Accept the dark side
by cheesymaster
Summary: What if at an early age Naruto instead of making his dark side sane, he accepted it as a part of himself? Gray!Naruto, ANBU!Naruto, stronger than canon Naruto, fem! older sister Kurama. Not a harem. NaruIno
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, I wouldn't have to go through college. Every character belongs to Kishimoto unless they are my own OCs.

**AN: This won't be a harem, I'm not sure if I even want to put in some pairings because of what I have in my future plans. Or at least until they are old enough because pairing 13-year-old killers isn't necessarily a good idea.**

"Talk"

"_Thoughts"_

"**Bijuu, summons"**

**Jutsu**

**Konoha, almost 8 years since the Kyuubi attack, 6PM**

An orange clad boy was walking through the village. Blue eyes, sun-kissed blonde hair, whisker marks on each cheek and an ugly suit. That was definitely, the pariah of the village, Uzumaki Naruto. He was going back from the ninja academy with a big smile on his face even though looks of hatred were directed at him.

Nearing his run down flat his thoughts were directed to his birthday in three days. Since the incident when he was four years old, the Hokage would let him stay with his family for a few days so nobody would harm him. He would surely come this evening or tomorrow morning to get him.

Looking around his thoughts drifted to the villagers around him "_They will see one day that they can't harm me anymore. Just a few more meters and will be able to throw this stupid smile away from my face. Why would I be smiling when every morning I have a giant scar on my torso to remind me that they would gladly kill me if they could?"_

Walking up the stairs he noticed that something was strange. He could hear nothing from his building. No talks, no tv on, no screams, nothing. He went carefully to his flat thinking that the door would be bashed in, but it was closed just like when he left. Something was amiss though. The slip of paper that he always put between the door and the frame was on the ground. That meant that someone entered his house.

Deciding to open the door, he put his back on the wall near his door, stretched his hand to the knob and opened the door. An explosion rocked the building and sent him flying to the ground. He was lucky that he didn't open the door normally or he would be missing his arm right now.

Still dizzy he tried to stand up and then he saw it. A pipe was in his chest. He looked at it and fainted on the spot blood pooling around him.

**Unknown location**

He woke up in something looking like a sewer. But he was sure it wasn't in Konoha. He has already been here for a brief moment four years ago when he had gotten his scar. Last time there was a voice calling to him but before he could get near it, he woke in the hospital.

This time wasn't different, a voice was calling to him, but it seemed to be in distress. He decided to take a look. The closer he got the more feminine this voice was getting until he came before a huge golden gate. There was a red-headed woman clutching the bars screaming at him.

"**Naruto! Naruto! Thank goodness you are here. Fast I will explain everything in a few moments but right now we are in a crisis. You were hurt and are probably dying right now. I can heal you, but I need you to take off the seal that is keeping my powers at bay. It's the talisman on the gate, fast rip it off!"**

Naruto was perplexed. What was she talking about, he was here not hurt or anything? No, he was hurt he had this pipe lodged in his chest after the explosion. If it was true what she was telling he would risk his chance. He took the talisman seal and was ready to tear it off. But before he could do anything a hand grabbed his own and has pushed him away from the gate.

"**Minato… You don't understand! Your son is in grave danger I need him to tear it off or else he will die!" **the redhead screamed at the man. Wait did she just say. Son? This man would be his dad? And Minato? The only person to bear this name in the village was the Yondaime. As he looked up, he could see the face of the man. It really was the Yondaime Hokage. Wasn't he supposed to be dead?

"I won't let you trick us, Kyuubi. I won't let my son just take off this seal." said Minato. As he was going to just block out the woman another one appeared. Another redhead but her hair was much lighter than the woman's behind the bars.

"She isn't trying to trick you honey, she is telling the truth. Naru-chan is really hurt outside." She said

"Kushi-chan?!" **"Kushi-chan?!" **Minato and the Kyuubi said in unison.

"Yes, it's me Minato, Kurama. But first we need to do something." before anyone could do anything, she ripped the seal herself and the gates opened. "Kura-chan please help our son"

"**Of course, Kushi-chan"** said Kurama as she flooded the pipes in the sewer with her chakra. In the outside world the pipe began to disintegrate, and the wound started healing.

Minato and Naruto tried to say something wrapping their heads around what has transpired but before any of them could open their mouths the now named Kushina spoke.

"I think you need an explanation. I never told you about my relationship with the Kyuubi because the walls have ears and eyes in this village and if it got out, we would have been in danger, now dear I think we should all introduce ourselves to Naruto here. Let me begin I'm Kushina Uzumaki and I am your mother."

"I think you know who I am by now, Minato Namikaze and I am your father. But you must know me as Yondaime Hokage"

"**This might be strange, but I am the Kyuubi, my name is Kurama"**

Naruto had enough at that moment. Yondaime is his father, the woman before him is his mother and the other one is the Kyuubi. He couldn't compute any of his thoughts anymore, so he just fell on his butt and started rocking back and forth.

After a few minutes he composed himself and started asking questions "Where are we? What is the Kyuubi doing here? Why she's a woman and not a 50m high fox? Are you sure you are my parents? The Sandaime always said that I was just a clan less orphan? How are you both not dead?"

"We are in your mindscape Naru-chan, when you were hurt your consciousness was sent here. About Kurama-chan it's going to be a long story so just sit and let us tell you" and thus the story of his birth began. How a man ripped the Kyuubi out of Kushina and how he forced Kurama to destroy the village. To finish how they sealed her. With that Kushina finished "And now we are here. But what do you mean clan less orphan? We told the Sandaime to hail you a hero of this land because after all you saved this village."

Naruto darkly chuckled and started taking of his clothes revealing the scar that went from the top to bottom of his stomach. It was jagged and not well sutured. "You see I never was the hero you wanted me to be. I'm the pariah, the scum and demon of the village. This was the gift the villagers gave me with a cracked bottle for my 4th birthday. I guess I have to thank the Kyuubi here for healing me when that happened" said Naruto

"**You don't need to thank me Naruto-kun. After all I was the reason, they hurt you. By the way you can call me Kurama, Kura-chan if you want." **When she said it Naruto finally got a closer look at the woman. She was around her thirties, around 165cm tall. Even with her small frame she held a regal and powerful aura around her. Anybody could see the power seeping through her red eyes. She was wearing a white kimono with just a purple sash to hold it around her body. Her face was that of a kind yet stern queen. She was almost as beautiful as his mother.

"Still thank you anyway, without you at this moment I would've been dead more than a few times knowing that my fast regeneration was due to your help." He said with a small bow to her.

Next, he turned to his parents and opened his arms as to hug them. They bent down to hug him as well. He touched their faces, they were so joyful that their son was forgiving them, but then he got a better hold of their heads and slammed their heads together.

"I had to check if your heads were as empty as they sounded to be. You guys were stupid thinking that they would hail me a hero. You left a newborn alone with the reason the village was destroyed thinking he would be seen as the savior." Said Naruto as his parents could only look at him in shame as he has shown them their short comings but as he finished, he came to them and hugged them this time for real.

"But I understand why you have done it. You had to do it. That's why I forgive you. Though the villagers are another thing I won't forgive them they've done the unspeakable. Now Kura-chan come here as well. Mom told us that you were almost family so join us."

As all of them were cuddling Kushina told Naruto to change his mindscape a bit since he was the law in here. He concentrated and the effect was beautiful. The ankle-deep water was transformed into lush green grass, the pipes with his chakra into multiple creeks and rivers. Seeing Kurama he forced a simple yet cozy house for her since she wasn't locked behind the bars anymore.

"**Thank you…"** said Kurama as she couldn't comprehend what happened. She was the source of his pain yet here he was giving her a place to live in this beautiful scenery. **"But why would you do that I was the source of your pain all these years and now you give me such a beautiful gift?"**

"There is nothing to forgive Kurama-chan. It wasn't your fault as it's not mine that you are trapped in here. And after all you are family since you were locked in my ancestors for so long. I should at least make your stay bearable"

As Naruto pronounced his words something wet hit his nose. Looking up he could see Kurama crying not able to speak. He caressed her head having seen the parents do this to their children and continued "Shhhh now, the tears don't suit such a strong woman as yourself."

After a few hours of talking, the chakra that kept Kushina and Minato inside Naruto started to fade away. They said their teary goodbyes and began to float away getting more and more transparent. But just before they would vanish, an ominous presence appeared inside Naruto's mindscape.

It touched both Minato and Kushina pumping something inside of them as they regained color and fell anew on the ground. Looking up Minato knew instantly what it was. The Shinigami. Deathly pale face with red horns and white hair, he couldn't forget this sight from 8 years ago.

All of the occupants in the grassy fields were forced to their knees just from the sheer amount of power it was exuding. Feeling it was enough, the Shinigami reined his power so they could breathe normally and opened its mouth.

"**Do not fear me, I didn't come here to take any of your souls today, on the contrary. Kami has struck a deal with me that concerns all of you that by proxy you can't refuse or negotiate. Do not ask questions before I'm finished. The deal is simple, Kami, my superior made me release and let the souls Kushina and Minato stay with their son for a small amount of time"**

It was strange the Shinigami didn't specify what the deal was and why would Kami want Naruto to get his parents for a bit. Seeing the questioning looks the Shinigami lifted his hand to halt their questions and continued his tirade

"**The Kami wants your parents to train you, young Naruto. A calamity is coming to this world and you need to stop it, that's why he gave you the best teachers for around six months. The second thing is that Minato has the second part of the Kyuubi's chakra inside him and without it, Naruto wouldn't be able to access the full power that was given him at birth." **As he said that he grabbed Minato and Kurama's hands and transferred the Kyuubi's yang chakra into Kurama once again.

Kurama never felt so powerful since she was torn apart 8 years ago. She opened her eyes for others to see that instead of two red eyes now she had one red and one golden. Naruto needed some explanations though, after all he wasn't as versed in this world's knowledge as the Shinigami, a few centuries old entity of power and two veteran ninjas.

"Sorry to interrupt but I don't understand what are you talking about, what two parts? Why are they so important that they need to work together?" he asked, and the Shinigami glared at him for a second and answered

"**I told you no questions until I am finished but I will forgive you since I was talking what appeared to be nonsense to your young mind. The two parts of chakra that were separated were the Yin and the Yang. Your father didn't know that when he ripped the Kyuubi's chakra in half. What you had was the Yin part, it's the dark part of your chakra, coming from the mind and powering what you call jutsu. The second part is the Yang which was sealed in your father. It's the body's chakra, representing the light in you. Without the both parts it cannot be mixed in right proportions giving you a huge handicap. You see Kurama could heal you only a little since she had barely any yang chakra within herself that's why she needed to open the seal. But she couldn't heal you just like that, she used the unfiltered corrosive yin chakra to disintegrate the pipe that was lodged near your heart. That's why you need both of these chakras to use it at its full potential."**

Rewinding a few times what was said Naruto finally nodded his head showing that he understood and showing to the Shinigami to keep going

"**There is only one but, the power Kurama possess could feed the dark side of your mind that you tried to hide under your smile all along. It would transform you into a rampaging beast, a berserker that would harm anyone around you, ally or foe. That's why I'll give you a favor and let you battle your dark side" **before Naruto could say anything the Shinigami put two fingers on his forehead and Naruto eyes flipped and his body tensed up.

**Unknown place**

Naruto found himself on the ground alone in some strange valley. Getting up he could see himself with a sad smile and the same red eyes Kurama had. "So, the Shinigami sent you here to battle me to gain control over me. So how are you going to do it, head on? Trying to think on your feet? I am you; I know your thoughts, you won't be able to outsmart me." Dark Naruto said.

That made Naruto think, if he really knew his feelings and thoughts then an open battle or an ambush wouldn't work. But when he started to think he heard someone crying deep in his head. He concentrated on the voice he heard it was of a boy, not any boy it was himself crying in his bed to sleep. He could hear dark Naruto's thoughts as well. He opened his eyes with a look of pithy directed at his dark side.

"I'm sorry, I've burdened you with all of this and closed you off behind this mask of happiness. I was stupid doing the same thing the villagers did. I dumped all of my hatred and negative emotions on you. I will not battle you. The Shinigami said himself that you need both the Yin and the Yang, in this case I am the Yang and you are my Yin. I accept you"

Dark Naruto smiled at this and started to disappear as Naruto said that. The dust that he created went to Naruto's heart and an echo sounded throughout the valley "Thank you".

**Naruto's Mindscape**

The Shinigami lifted his fingers off Naruto's forehead. Naruto himself has fallen to his knees closing his eyes.

"**Have you conquered your dark side young Naruto?" **pressed the Shinigami

"No" this answer put his entourage in a somber mood "I accepted him, he was me, my dark side or should I call it my Yin side. You said it yourself Shinigami-sama the yang cannot exist without the yin. And that's my proof." He opened his eyes that were just like Kurama's. His left eye was red, and the right was golden in color showing that he could access both of the chakras without going mad.

"**That's even better, hahaha, normally you shouldn' be able to access the yin since it would consume you and would only work as a stabilizer for the yang. But you consumed your own yin making you accept the Kyuubi's yin. Now I understand why the Kami chose you"**

Did he just receive a praise and a laugh from the entity that governed the macabre of this world? Yes, he did, and it was the best thing he could ever imagine as his birthday gift.

"**I don't have much time left to speak with you. I will ask the three of you train Naruto as much as you can. I can only give you six months of this reunion. I will come back then to tell you about the rest of the deal that the Kami made. Do not fret it's nothing extravagant but it won't be easy. As a parting gift will let you know that the ANBU that were supposed to watch you are dead and replaced with strange people. Beware of the cross"**

As he said that, the Shinigami disappeared leaving everyone dumbfounded. Did they really get some time with each other even if it was only in his mindscape? They could work with it, but they had more important things to do right now.

"Naruto-kun you need to exit your mindscape right now, no one came to your help, even if you are healed outside you are still unconscious, you can't go back to your apartment since it's in shreds. Fast you need to find a hideout. We can communicate with your thoughts." Said Minato Naruto just nodded and concentrated on going out.

Once he was out, he looked at himself. His clothes were in tatters and he had a gaping hole were the pipe pierced his flesh. Looking around he wanted to dash straight to his hideout in the village but remembered that the ANBU that were watching him were replaced.

He thought about it for a second but couldn't find an answer. If he went to the streets someone would attack him, he wasn't strong enough to go even a kilometer inside of the Forest of Death without being clawed by a 5m bear. And he couldn't risk someone knowing his location.

Before he could boil his brain by overthinking Kushina gave him a solution "Naru-chan close your eyes. I will transfer you the knowledge about the **Shunshin no Jutsu**. You said that the Hokage normally would pick you up during your birthday. You could **Shunshin **inside his office, that way you would gain protection without revealing your hideout. Beware though, even if you know how the jutsu works you haven't practiced with it yet so you might hit something on the road. Maybe it won't be bad since you would look even worse when you appear in his office."

That was a sound idea, get protection from his Ji-chan and at the same time get the answers he wanted all of his short life even if he already knew them. It would at least feel good to not be lied to anymore.

He gathered his chakra, did the tiger seal and teleported to the Hokage's office. He hit some walls on the road but nothing he should mind right now. He found himself just in front of his Ji-chan and some other man. He looked at him and saw a cross shaped scar on his face. He remembered the last words of the Shinigami _**"Beware of the cross"**_. He opened his mouth and said "Ji-chan I need help" and he passed out from the hits he took on the road.

**A few hours later**

Naruto woke up on the couch in the Hokage's office. He rubbed the drowsiness from his eyes and have seen the Sandaime hovering over him. "Hey, Ji-chan everything okay?" he asked trying to make the old man smile to no avail.

"Naruto-kun thank goodness you are awake! What happened to you? I was so scared when you appeared in my office all battered up." The Hokage was almost shouting, distressed seeing the state in which his surrogate grandchild was.

Naruto gained a mature look that was unfit for a child his age "I will explain everything, but it should be private. You should dismiss your ANBU and maybe look on the ceiling near the door". Hiruzen waved his hand to dismiss his ANBU and directed them to the place Naruto guided him to.

It was strange when an ANBU fell from the ceiling when Hiruzen threw a kunai in there. The ANBU in question had a blank mask and when it was removed there was a seal on his tongue. "Can you tell me how you knew there was someone in the ceiling that even myself didn't detect."

"I will explain everything. Now you should probably sit down for this because it won't be easy to comprehend. So, it all started today when someone put an explosive in my flat and almost blew me up." He said with a calm voice as if he was talking about the weather.

"Someone did what!?" the Sandaime asked

"Before I continue. Do you want to tell me something?" Naruto asked looking longingly at the photo of the Yondaime.

Catching up to what was going on Hiruzen did a few hand seals to cast a silencing seal on the room "I understand that I cannot lie to you anymore Naruto-kun. I will be blunt…" Hiruzen recounted the story of Naruto's life in shame. When he finished, he was ready to get screamed at or for Naruto to blow up, but he didn't.

Naruto lifted himself from his seat, went to his grandfatherly figure and hugged him "Don't worry Ji-chan I forgave you already. You protected me already well enough during my birthdays. Even if sometimes I got harmed you shielded me from the worst." He went back to his seat and continued looking at Hiruzen with a smile "Though just for your information, have you lied to me once again I would probably start my plan EE. That's for emergency escape. I knew that one day I could be forced out of here, so I prepared myself. Now it's time for you to learn something since there are some holes in what you told me"

Thus, Naruto told the old man about Kurama, showing him his eyes. About how he met with his parents and the Shinigami himself. "… and that's how I felt the man up there with the Negative Emotion Sensing given to me by Kura-chan. That's why I need to ask you for a six months training period out of the academy. Anyway, I wouldn't learn much from there since anyone, but Iruka-sensei wants to sabotage me. If you don't believe me ask for my assignments."

Without thinking much Hiruzen answered "Granted. I will arrange everything needed and see through your grades and papers. Anything else that you would need Naruto-kun?" It was a no-brainer for the old Sarutobi. If what Naruto said about his parent's ability to transfer jutsu knowledge to the boy was true than in a few months and with the right regimen they would have another powerhouse youth like Itachi.

"Yeah, could I sleep at your house since my has blown up?" Naruto asked with his usual looser behavior while scratching the back of his head "Oh and Tou-chan wanted to make a deal with you. He wants me to be supervised only if in name because it would be strange if I would improve drastically without a teacher. As payment he would tell you how to defeat this." Naruto said showing the tower of papers on the desk.

"Yes, you can I will find someone after your birthday. Now tell me what's the secret!" screamed Hiruzen almost lifting Naruto by his clothes.

"I don't know what that means but he told me to show you this" Naruto said with a sense of panic and made a cross seal. Hiruzen only sat down looking at it first he showed a smile, then he started laughing and then crying and laughing again and crying again. This sequence repeated for at least 5 minutes until Hiruzen crossed his fingers and shouted **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**. Many copies of himself popped up and started doing his work.

He stood up and took Naruto's hand and turned his face to the boy "Now Naruto-kun let's go to my house. Try using **Shunshin** on both of us. Don't worry I will guide us out of the harm's way, that way you will understand how to turn properly with the **Shunshin**."

As they arrived at the house Naruto was spent for the day and asked if he could go to sleep right away. As the sleep has taken him Hiruzen watched him from the door with a somber expression _"Such a young child with such a huge burden. He will be eight in three days and he already has a plan if the village wanted him gone"_

**Time skip 7 days**

The worst time has passed for Naruto with Hiruzen and his family. Since his wardrobe was destroyed, he asked for some clothes as his birthday gift. Now he was wearing black shinobi pants with black ninja boots, on the top he had a black long-sleeved shirt with a turtleneck that served as a mask if needed with an orange Uzumaki swirl on his right arm. (**AN: Imagine Kakashi's shirt without his Jōnin vest)**

He didn't waste his time since he had only six months to master what his parents knew or at least a part of it. His dad said he wouldn't be learning the **Hiraishin**. It wasn't a technique in his mind anymore. It was a weapon of mass destruction. He was scarred by the nightmares when he remembered what he did with it. He wanted the jutsu to disappear with himself. That's why he never made a scroll to learn it.

Anyway, when they have seen what this new chakra of the Kyuubi could do they knew he wouldn't need it. The yin chakra was corrosive and if he coated a body part with it, he would burn and dissolve the thing he touched. The problem was that it burned him as well. To a lesser degree but still the burn would be dangerous.

On the other side the Yang chakra strengthened him many times as well as healed him. He could still remember what happened when he coated his fist with the golden flame and punched a tree for the first time. A perfect indentation of his fist was left in the wood. A feat that even some chunin couldn't do.

Nonetheless this strength came with a price of him becoming fatigued much earlier even if he was the incarnation of stamina. That's why his tenants forced on him a monstrous regimen that would prepare him for future battles.

His father transferred his Hummingbird Style into Naruto. A style that relied on speed and fast killing of the opponent. No mercy was given to the enemy just a fast death. Anyway, Naruto didn't need a heavy hitting style since he could use the Yang chakra to outpower the opponent or the Yin chakra to slowly eat through his opponent if he couldn't get a fast finishing blow. Literally.

His mother gave him her sword style, The Hidden Dragon Style. It was then that Naruto understood the profession he was forced to take would lead him into a world of violence and bloodshed. It did something that Naruto wasn't sure was possible. With the use of chakra, it could transform anything into a blade. From his hand to a simple twig. Anything could become a sword in his hands.

Kurama couldn't impart him much since her fighting style was that of a 50m tall beast. In short not suitable for a human. She only gave him the knowledge about her chakra and how to use it effectively.

In short Naruto had a lot to practice since even if he knew the styles in his mind his body wasn't ready for them. They required muscles that everyday life didn't solicit. They decided that right now the best would be for Naruto to learn how to use the basics of his taijutsu and the Empty-Hand Stance of his kenjutsu as well as the control over the Yang chakra.

Right now, it was almost midnight and Naruto was coming back to his house that he repaired with some shadow clones that he **Henged **to look as simple carpenters. Looking around he saw a woman on the ground holding her side that was bleeding profusely and three men over her.

"The snake bitch is at last where she is supposed to be, on the ground. Now before you die, we will have some fun" one of them said with a sneer. The woman on the floor didn't want to die like this, humiliated and soiled. _"Someone please save me" _she cried in her mind since she was too proud to show it.

"Naru-chan please help her. These men want to do unspeakable things to her." pleaded Kushina

"No" answered Naruto "I know what they want to do to her. I already helped her once and do you know what happened when I went in to save her? She ran leaving me alone against three adults that beat me up so hard that even Kurama-chan had to heal me for three days because of the amount of broken bones." He said that with anger in his voice.

"**Please Naruto-kun help her, I understand that you hate the fact about what happened last time but please save her. Don't let her die like the trash soiled on the ground raped by her own villagers."** Kurama pleaded with Kushina

"If something happens like that time, I will show you all what happened 4 years ago, so you guys understand why I hate the villagers." Naruto reluctantly obliged and pumped the Yang chakra in his legs engulfing them in tongues of golden flames and sprinted at the group.

Before the man could touch the woman on the ground something golden flashed in front of his eyes. Naruto swept the woman and put her 20 meters further from the place seeing she had a kunai lodged in her side he decided to hasten.

He put up his mask just in case and turned around thankful that there was barely any light to illuminate his blonde hair. He turned around and have seen what were the "eternal genins", people that were over 20 years old yet never had any success on the field and either stayed genins or died on the missions.

The luck was on his side he pumped even more Yang into his legs and arms and rushed at them knocking them out before they could even see his face. He put them all in the trash and sprinted to the woman.

She was barely conscious because of the blood loss but before she passed out, she told Naruto where she lived. He could heal her with the Yang chakra and even if he brought her to a hospital, they would think he was the one who did it. He grabbed her arm and **Shunshinned** them to her home.

Quickly thinking on his feet, he took of her trench coat and her mesh. He had a grim expression looking at the wound. Even if he healed her with the Yang chakra the kunai that was in her has been old and rusty leaving bits of metal in her lungs. She wouldn't live long if it stayed there.

He took out the kunai and started using the Yin to disintegrate all of the metal and rusty bits of the kunai. He burned himself to a high degree because he had to control precisely the chakra and the only way, he could do it was by taking the toll himself. When it was done, he started sealing her wound with the Yang. She was in the clear now.

Looking at his hand it lacked skin at many places and hurt like hell, but he didn't have the possibility to use any more Yang or he would pass out himself. So, he just took a towel and bandaged it for the night. Leaving her home, he closed the door and **Shunshinned** to his house to get some sleep.

**Next Morning**

The woman from the previous night awakened groggily without any pain in her side. She remembered now. She was saved once again by the Uzumaki brat. She concentrated on her surroundings and have seen two figures over her two and only friends Uzuki Yugao and Kurenai Yuhi.

"Anko what happened to you? We were so scared when you didn't come last night" said Kurenai

Before Anko could understand everything that happened last night, she said "Uzumaki brat". The beauties in her house gained angry looks on their faces and before Anko could tell anything more both of them **Shunshinned **to the said Naruto.

Naruto woke up when someone smashed into his door. His had still had burn marks because Kurama didn't want to risk giving her host any damage by forcing any Yang chakra. He looked up and have seen the two women. One had unruly black hair, red eyes and a strange dress. The other was in a standard ANBU gear with a katana drawn and ready to kill.

They both shouted at him "What have you done to Anko last night you bastard?" and lounged at him. He evaded the kunai from the black-haired woman, but he has put himself in the strike of the purple haired woman.

Her katana pierced his stomach, but a strange golden flame appeared around the wound. _"See never should have helped her" _he said to his tenants that were in a state of panic. Naruto however grabbed the offending katana and plunged it deeper making it come out the other side.

This was a painful tactic, but it gave him the way to grab the attacker and try to pummel her with the Yang enhanced fist. It didn't work as the raven-haired woman started the seals for a genjutsu. At the same moment Anko came through the door and shouted "STOOOOOP!" but it was too late Kurenai has already put the boy in the genjutsu.

Yugao took the sword out of his gut but the flame sealed the wound not leaving any trace. The boy however started spasming knowing he was already in the **Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu**. Anko ran to him trying to stabilize him so he didn't harm himself while spasming.

"Anko what are you doing? He harmed you last night, didn't he? Let him rot in the genjutsu." asked Yugao

"Kurenai lift the genjutsu. You guys fucked up big time. He saved me last night. I will explain later but now lift the fucking genjutsu up before he bites off his tongue." Ordered Anko and Kurenai could only do what she was told.

The spasms stopped and 30 seconds later Naruto came back to reality with an angered look directed at the three women in his apartment. "Great next time that one of your friends is about to be raped I will remember to not help her if getting stabbed and put into a nightmare is the thank you. Maybe I should even call a bar so everybody can enjoy. Sincerely fuck you. Now get out of my house. I would tell you to close the door, but you dimwits bashed it in."

"What do you mean raped?" gulped Yugao seeing the blood dripping from her swords.

"Haven't I told you to get out? Well if you insist, ask your friend there what happened last night. And maybe the night 2 years ago." He said disgusted by the three women. He could feel shame in them, but he didn't care.

"I was drunk again last night and these three eternal genins ambushed me. They stabbed me in the side and were going to rape me. Just before they could though Naruto here rushed in and saved me, again. I guess he brought me home and healed me even though I don't know how." Said Anko angry at her friends who held their heads down looking at their feet with Yugo trying to hide the blade behind her.

"What do you mean again Anko-chan?" asked Kurenai but Anko didn't want to answer this question to which Naruto rose back to his feet

"You see when I was six the same situation happened though that time, I didn't have the strength to beat them or defend myself. Thinking I have the backing of a ninja who just needed the distraction to counterattack I did it." He paused there shooting a glare at Anko "Well she needed a distraction to run away leaving me to get beaten almost to death. But hey I guess I should be happy that she didn't join them seeing how your group says thank you"

"We are so- "they said in unison but were stopped in their tracks by Naruto

"Yes yes sorry, keep it to yourselves. You showed how thankful you are already I don't need to know how sorry you are, I had enough things lodged in myself today. I changed my mind. Can you stay here because I need to find a new door and don't want anything more destroyed today." As Naruto stomped out of the house and **Shunshinned **somewhere.

"We fucked up big time didn't we. Let's hope he doesn't tell Hokage-sama or else we are neck deep in shit." Said Yugao.

"Yes, we did, but he won't do it, the Hokage won't be able to do anything to us since we are all Jonin or ANBU and the council will protect us. It won't matter." Said a sad Anko

Only Kurenai had a blank look on her face. The kid pushed a sword through himself all alone and was beaten to death at least few times if she remembered right. She forced him to see something even worse with her genjutsu.

"He is 8 years old. We didn't even think what we were doing. I subjected an 8-year-old to torture with my genjutsu" finally Kurenai opened her mouth sick with herself

**With Naruto**

"Are you happy now? I knew that would happen in the end. If not for Kurama-chan that would have been an instant trip to a hospital. Oh, wait the hospital would have let me die."Said Naruto to his mother and Kurama.

They couldn't even tell that they were sorry. Naruto has done something good and the world smacked him for that on the head.

"Once I install this new door we are going to train, I need to be stronger so situations like these won't happen anymore. I can't even tell the Hokage. He won't be able to do anything. The council will sweep the entire thing under the rug."

He neared his house with the wooden board in his hands. No need for a new expensive door. It would be destroyed anyway. Not paying attention to the three women inside he summoned a clone to help him replace the door.

He put on the last bolt and turned around to them "Can you please tell me why the fuck are you still here? I have my door on, no need for you three trying to coax me into being sorry by doing my bed and cleaning my blood off the floor."

"We want to know how you healed me last night and why is your hand still burned when you healed the stab within a second?" At this Naruto looked at his hand that he forgot from this ordeal and pumped the Yang chakra inside. The flame engulfed it and a few seconds later it was as new. "Like that and I burned myself trying to disintegrate the metal bits that were lodged inside Anko's side, if I remember her name right."

The guilt on their faces was now clear as water. He burned himself to the point his skin was non-existent to help their friend and they tortured him. Nice. "If you want to know more you can go ask the Hokage" he finished with a smirk. They couldn't unless they exposed themselves.

"Now out I think you girls did enough this morning." They couldn't argue anymore so they quit his flat and went on with their lives disgusted by themselves. All of them but Kurenai who wanted to know something else

"What have I made you see in the genjutsu?" she asked

"For fuck's sake you really want to know. Then sit down I will tell you what happened four years ago and let you imagine what have I seen in your genjutsu" he said with Kushina and Kurama listening intently since he never told them what exactly happened

"That night some sick fuck decided to see if I really was human, so he took kunais and crucified me to a wall. Then he took some broken glass to be sure that it hurt as much as it could. He opened me up and started looking what I looked like inside. He made everything to keep me awake the entire time. Four straight hours of cutting and inspecting. The trip to T&I would be more pleasant for a four-year-old." He chuckled darkly as he lifted to show the nasty scar. Something normally impossible for the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

Kurenai looked as she was going to puke. Back in her days every academy student were forced to see what was going on in the T&I to prepare themselves. They were only shown the light version of the section but still left many of them scarred. Yet this boy in front of her said it would be pleasant to be in place of the prisoners that were tortured.

She got up and with tears going out of her eyes she quit the house. Finally. Naruto could go at last to the training ground in his hideout to train.

**Next day**

Naruto got up today without anyone barging through his door. It was a good day until an ANBU sporting the same purple hair as the woman who stabbed him yesterday came to him. "Hokage-sama wants to see you Uzumaki Naruto" she said and **Shunshinned **with him to the office.

Naruto was greeted by the Hokage and his clones inside. The grandfather looked at him and said "Good morning Naruto-kun. I chose someone for your guardian. I think you can relate with her in some way. Now please let me introduce you Anko Mitarashi" Naruto gained a scowl at the name and when the 20 something year old entered the office his scowl deepened, and her face fell, still ashamed.

"I refuse Ji-chan"

"But why she is a jonin and can teach you very well with your other teachers"

"We have a conflict of interest. If you want to know, you can ask her yourself." The Hokage turned to her and motioned for her to speak

"It would be better if my friends Yugao and Kurenai were here." He asked instantly for them to come in. When they did their faces fell seeing the blonde inside thinking that he snitched on them.

"Now can someone tell me why three of my jonin kunoichi have a conflict of interest with an eight-year-old?" Hiruzen was getting impatient

"Yesterday, I got drunk and some eternal genins tried to rape me. Naruto here saved me and healed me while burning his hand. He left me only in my bra that's why when I woke up Kurenai and Yugao thought he was the one to do something to me and…"

"And Yugao stabbed Naruto while I put him in the **Hell Viewing technique**." Finished Kurenai awaiting the wrath of the God of Shinobi.

She wasn't wrong when the Killing intent made all three of them go down on their knees with Hiruzen showing a furious face. "You three imbeciles, you are at least old enough to know that a prepubescent boy isn't interested in women. Tell me how you imagined him doing something to her with his dick only serving only to pee at the moment." He roared at them

"Naruto-kun are you okay, I can't imagine what have you seen in the genjutsu" Hiruzen went back to his Ji-chan mode still forcing the kunoichi to the floor.

"Let's just say it was worse than four years ago and leave it at that. Don't worry Ji-chan you know I have a high pain tolerance" that struck a chord in the women. They have seen it yesterday when he pushed himself on the sword.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun but you know I can't punish them; the council wouldn't allow it. But I have an idea." The Hokage chuckled darkly letting the women stand up "Uzuki Yugao, Yuhi Kurenai, Mitarashi Anko. You have a new long-term mission. You are to train Naruto Uzumaki for the next 6 months. Normally the pay would have been a monthly S rank but as punishment it will be only an A rank for each of you."

"Now Naruto-kun you should begin your training right away" he told Naruto who quit the office with a smile getting another three powerful teachers instead of just one

"Okay everybody grab me we are going to **Shunshin **so nobody can follow us"

**Unknown location with Naruto**

They were brought inside a strange underground lab of some sort. Before Naruto could show them, what was where he was halted by the questions.

"Where are we?"

"We are in a secret lab of a guy named Orochimaru. He researched something called the cursed seal here. Real nasty stuff. Though I think I have a way to take it off, maybe not right now but maybe in a few weeks" he trailed in his rumblings

What he didn't see were the faces of the girls, first it was disgust at the name of the Orochimaru, then sadness at the mention of the cursed seal to elation when they learned about the possibility to take it off. Anko couldn't wait and fired her questions

"How can you take it off? The seal master of this village tried and could only seal it off."

"The same way I disintegrated the metal and rust in your wound. What will you hear now is an S ranked secret. You can talk about it, but it will throw you and everybody you know in prison or straight to execution. You sure you want to know?" he asked seeing the glint of hope in her eyes. Then he remembered when he has seen Anko almost naked she had one of the prototypes on her shoulder.

"Yes" they answered

"Okay it's a long story so make yourself comfortable" and thus he began his story about the explosions and what ensued "…that way I could disintegrate the seal on the chakra level. The problem is that I don't have the necessary control over Yin to do it without disintegrating my whole hand."

Now they understood why he missed some skin on his hand yesterday. And they understood the sacrifice he made for her. Anko looked him in the eyes and bowed "Thank you. I never said it but thank you for the last time and this time. I never thanked you."

"Lift your head Anko-sensei. A simple thank you would've been enough. Now shouldn't we start the training senseis?" Naruto told with a scratch to the back of his hand and spawned ten clones.

_**End chapter 1**_

**AN: It was a long one, but I'm mostly pleased with myself right now. If you see any problems with grammar, spelling etc. be sure to point it out. **

**Thanks for giving me some time of your day (or night). **


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, I wouldn't have to go through college. Every character belongs to Kishimoto unless they are my own OCs.

"Talk"

"_Thoughts"_

"**Bijuu, summons"**

**Jutsu**

**AN: When I mention Yin or Yang, they are the Kyuubi's chakra if not said otherwise. I don't feel like explaining all of Naruto's training, it always feels forced and bland to me. Once again this won't be a harem. I think making a good harem is much more difficult than a single relationship.**

**Time Skip 5 months**

If you asked Naruto how his last 5 months were, he would sum it up in one word. Rough. The training was rough. Not only his tenants forced him to practice their specialties and jutsus, but his physical teachers were giving him a tough time as well.

When Yugao learned that he was learning the Hidden Dragon Style she has gotten a malicious glint in her eyes. She was a kenjutsu expert using her Dancing Moonlight style. She wanted to spar one day against a Hidden Dragon Style user one day though when Kushina died the last user died as well.

Now that Naruto was learning it, she has gotten another chance for the spar. True even if he mastered it, he wouldn't be able to make her go all out because of his lack of physical strength as a child. "_But in a few years…" _she dreamt.

Since then Yugao would always train Naruto in Kenjutsu until a point which Naruto accepted her. She had this half annoying big sister half caring mother side which appealed to Naruto.

Anko was a bit down because she couldn't force him to become like her. He had his mischievous side, but he wasn't as outgoing like her since he dropped his mask. He became more composed and his pranking lessened. Instead of quantity he went for quality. Her primary objective as his teacher was to give him pointers in nin and taijutsu in the real world.

Last but not least Kurenai was the most depressed out of them because she was virtually useless to him. His massive chakra reserves disabled any use of genjutsu by him. Though she supervised his chakra control. Both his and Kurama's.

Speaking of his teachers their relationships changed by a huge factor. At first Naruto couldn't stand in their vicinity for more than 15 minutes making them be his teachers only in name. That was until the three kunoichi couldn't stand it anymore and forced him to at least speak to them. Which wasn't that hard. After all he was strong even very strong for his age, but they were seasoned jonins.

The second one to break the ice was Anko who followed him everywhere until he gave in. They sat in silence for a few hours until Anko told him her life story and why she was so unbelieving when he told her that he could take off her seal. Naruto found the words of the old Hokage true, they really could relate to each other as he recounted his own story which was much worse since he couldn't defend himself.

After that night he focused even more on the control of the Kyuubi's chakra. He wouldn't let someone else's life be dictated by a seal that was forced on them. Even more since her seal didn't have any real purpose and only hurt her.

Speaking of controlling this power the last one that Naruto warmed to was Kurenai. She could only supervise him in case he did something stupid while practicing. She was beginning to feel more thankful to the kid when she saw what training he did to liberate her close friend from clutches of an evil mastermind.

He began to learn how to use seals. He was far from being a seal master or even considered good by Konoha's standards. He did simple seals on paper and then tried to erase them without even touching the paper with the Yin chakra.

The problem was that such a precision aggravated the toll on his own burns. This was even worse because the damage would have dispelled his clones. So, every evening he finished with a hand that lacked skin all over it. To a point where he once went too far, the pain was unbearable, and the yin started seeping through his wounds making them worse.

This time Kurenai has put her craft into a better use. She put Naruto into a genjutsu that soothed him right away making him regain unconsciously reins over his powers.

_Flashback_

Naruto woke up with a feeling of something wet hitting his face. Groggily opening his eyes, he has seen the face of Kurenai. A crying Kurenai. Did he do something that made her cry?

Seeing his eyes opening Kurenai hugged the boy with a smile. On the contrary Naruto wasn't very fond of the action. He didn't like being touched by strangers. Yes, he did hug Kurama or his parents, but his life taught him that contact with strangers meant pain.

He struggled to get out of the embrace. Kurenai responded by frowning and keeping the boy even stronger in her arms. Unconsciously she knew why he tried to run away but her instincts told her to keep him.

When he finally eased in the embrace Kurenai spoke.

"Why are you trying so hard? You hurt yourself so much to help Anko."

"You really don't know how to say 'thank you' Kurenai-sensei." She blushed at that with a small pout. "It's easy, Ji-chan said that I could relate to Anko and it's true. We both have seals and pasts that force us into being pariahs of this village. That's why I want to help her that much. No need for two people forced into living hell because of a seal."

Kurenai widened her eyes listening to that. She hugged him even more and started to whisper "Thank you. You don't know what that means to us three that you want to help Anko this much."

_Flashback End_

This training was going well until it hit a wall about one month ago. Naruto has gotten good enough to destroy any kind of seal written on normal paper without suffering any injury. This had some additional perks because his control over Yin and Yang was very good making all of his teachers astounded by the progress.

The problem was that Naruto could only erase a seal on paper. He wasn't sure if it would be good enough to not harm a human with the Yin. He couldn't ask anyone to let them apply seals on them to try and destroy them. With a bit of thinking he got an answer. It was the chakra paper. It was so sensitive to chakra that even a small amount would show someone's nature, even civilian's.

That was the wall, it was so expensive that the amount he needed to train would exhaust a family's monthly budget. He needed money and he knew what to do.

_Flashback_

"So how are we going to finance this project Naruto-kun?" Anko asked dejectedly.

"I have an idea. We are going to trade information with Ji-chan for a hefty sum. To be exact the information about all of Orochimaru's hideouts in the village." Naruto responded with a naughty smirk

**Hokage office**

Naruto and his three friends entered the office. The sight pleased Hiruzen as all four of them were smiling and Kurenai was roughing Naruto's hair. Finally, Naruto gained some friends even if they were more than double his age.

"What brings you here at this fine day?" asked Hiruzen taking a puff from his pipe

"I want to trade crucial information Jiji" answered Naruto

"Oh, and what would it be? You've already given me the secret for the paperwork."

"Let's say for a price of one S class mission I give you info about all of Orochimaru's hideouts in the village?" This put Hiruzen straight into his Hokage mode. This wasn't a simple matter anymore. If they could gather data about his older student from there it would greatly benefit the village.

"Naruto how did you come to get this intel? Tell me! Quickly" this scared Naruto a bit. Gulping he answered

"You remember about my plan EE. The place that I chose for my hideout turned out to be one of his cleaner laboratories. Inside there was a map with all of them inside the village. I would be cautious though. I've been to some of them and most of them aren't as pretty as my "own"."

"If it's true that map is worth much more than a simple S-rank, I will give you an equivalent of two S-ranks. Now give me the map."

Naruto unsealed two scrolls and given it to him "There is the map. I erased the location of my hideout so in compensation I've gathered everything in there that belonged to Orochimaru and sealed it in the other scroll."

Sarutobi opened the scroll and gave a nod. He took a piece of paper and scribbled something on it "Here, take this downstairs, the chunin will give you the money"

"Yugao-sensei can you do this and go buy the necessary amount? About four kilos. It would be easier if someone with a higher rank would do this." Naruto gave her the slip, but she refused.

"I can't Naruto-kun. I need to talk to the Hokage about you. The three of us already talked about it. Please Kurenai can you do what he asked?" Hiruzen looked at her quizzically and after Kurenai left he motioned her to speak.

"You see Hokage-sama Naruto here grows fast, too fast. It would be stupid to send him back to the academy. He would destroy his class 10 times over with a single strike if he wanted to. It would be a waste of his talents to do it. I propose to enroll him into ANBU. We all know here that ANBU aren't only jounins. Sometimes we recruit even genins because of their abilities. Naruto-kun fits the bill perfectly. He's already stronger than any genin and his abilities make him even stronger. He's like Tsunade-sama a medic that can destroy keeps. I will let you look into that."

_Flashback end_

A few days ago, Naruto perfected his use of Yin. Even if by accidents he discovered many times his affinity for wind and slight fire caused by Kurama's chakra flowing through his body since day one, he found a way to disintegrate seals written on the chakra paper.

He did so by using both the Yin and the Yang at the same time. The Yang would create an almost infinitely thin border around the seal making a vessel for the Yin to flow through the chakra infused ink and leaving a perfect and usable chakra paper behind.

Today was the day to free Anko. The preparations were complete. For the last hour Naruto spent time with his interior tenants making sure that everything would work perfectly. He entered a room where Anko was sitting in only her sports bra. A necessity for kunoichis. Kurenai and Yugao were holding her hands to relieve the stress.

Naruto stood in front of them looking Anko straight into the eyes. She didn't trust herself to speak so she just gave him a smile and a nod. He nodded back and began. He touched her shoulder coating it with the Yang until it formed a light around the Cursed Seal. When he felt ready, he poured the yin inside the vessel.

A few seconds later he did something that even the seal master of the village couldn't do. He destroyed Orochimaru's magnum opus. To be on the safe side he flushed her shoulder with the Yang to neutralize any Yin that could infect her.

Looking at his fingers he has seen some burn marks. He preferred to be extra cautious with Anko and made sure that any burns were given to him. It was a small price compared to the smiles his three friends gave him and a huge hug from Anko who now had a perfect unblemished skin.

**Time skip 1 month**

The time was nearing. The Shinigami would come today to take back the souls of Minato and Kushina. For the last few days Naruto spent all of his time with them unwilling to say goodbye. He knew that day would come but he didn't want it to. It was Kushina that gave him a new perspective on this. She reminded him that outside he had his nee-chans as well as Kura-nee inside of him.

Since the day that Naruto freed Anko the three of his senseis became something else to him, a family. The mischievous Anko-nee, the annoying yet loving Yugao-nee and the always composed nevertheless easily flushed Kurenai-nee.

**Mindscape**

Naruto was hugging his parents not wanting to let them go. They were all reminiscing the good times together during the six months. The training they put him through, the unconditional love they have given to him.

All of his tenants were sure that they've done all they could to prepare Naruto for the future. They taught him everything they deemed in his grasp. The things he couldn't for the moment were stored in what they called mind gates. They would unlock when the seal algorithm inside would deem the young boy ready.

He could rival now an early chunin in strength, but he had invented a few techniques that could multiply his strength tenfold. One of them was what he called the **Bijuu Cannon**. He found out about it when he learned how to shoot a small amount of Yin or Yang from his fingers but anything more would throw him back because of Newton's third law.

He counteracted it by shooting the chakra in two opposite directions. This countered the thrust he produced to the front and gave him quite a forest razer. (**AN: yes, I based it on Tsuna's X-Burner from KHR). **Right now, he was on the process of concentrating the beam to instead of getting a wide spread he would get a long-range laser to kill from afar.

Their rumblings were cut short when they felt the same ominous presence from six months ago. The Shinigami was back to take the souls of Minato and Kushina and specify the rest of the deal.

"**Greetings mortals, I hope you all prepared yourselves. Your time has come. Before I take you, I must commend the training you have given to the young Naruto. Don't worry you will be taken to heaven instead of my stomach as a thank you from Kami himself. Now to the last part of the deal I've told you about I need you to take the lives of two men who caused so much chaos in this world. The first one is Orochimaru the snake sannin and the second one is someone who calls himself Uchiha Madara yet he's a simple imposter. You've all met him once already. The hint is a spiral orange mask."**

When he said the last line, the room dropped a few degrees, and everyone was furious. That was the man that destroyed their family and lives. At least it was a good incentive for Naruto to train even harder from now on.

"**Say your last goodbyes now since you won't be seeing each other in a long time."**

Naruto hugged his parents forcing his tears to never come out. He would make them proud and wanted them to remember him as a strong growing and cheerful boy. He wasn't going himself to spoil this memory by his tears.

**Hideout**

Naruto came back to himself in the real world. He looked around and started crying for the first time since a long time. Soon his sisters came to soothe him until he cried himself to sleep with his head on Kurenai's lap.

"Sometimes you forget he's just a child. He's not even nine and tomorrow he will begin his training in ANBU. Seeing him cry like that makes you question the order of this world where children have to kill each other for their village." Said Kurenai brushing one of Naruto's locks out of his face.

**Next day**

Naruto was brought to the Hokage's office by his ex-teachers since yesterday their mission has come to an end. Today his life would change drastically, he would be incorporated into the ANBU. He shouldn't even be a genin at his age yet the ANBU was going to welcome him.

"Like you've said I pondered about the ANBU route for Naruto and after you've told me about his exploits it would be dangerous to make him go back to the academy. Kurenai, Anko from this day you regain your duties to the village. Yugao or should I say Neko you take Naruto to the ANBU HQ. They know everything and his compulsory training will start in two days. Dismissed."

Yugao took back her mask and put it over her face. She grabbed Naruto's shoulder and **Shunshinned **to the ANBU HQ. Kurenai and Anko took the more traditional way out of the building. That is through the door.

"It's going to be much less lively without him" said Anko with a sigh going to her house until the next mission.

**Meanwhile at the Academy**

Iruka had enough. It was Monday, he had a hangover and his students were always the liveliest on Mondays. This was going to be a long day. He scanned over this class still asking himself if the clan heads had an orgy or something. Most of the clan heirs were in this class. What are the chances for this to happen in a single year? This had to be planned.

Suddenly a hand rose. This wouldn't be strange but the person who raised the hand. It was the shiest and meekest to-be-kunoichi he knew, Hinata Hyuuga. It had to be urgent if the girl dared to ask something in front of class.

"Yes, what is it Hinata?" he asked tentatively

"S-s-sensei do you know what happened to Naruto-kun?"

"The idiot surely dropped out!" someone shouted from the back making all of the class laugh

"Actually no, Akima. He was taken into an apprenticeship by a jonin" this was at least what he was told by the Hokage. The laughter ceased and no one dared to say anything more until a screeching voice shouted

"Ha the idiot had to be taken into apprenticeship or else he would kill himself." The voice appeared to be coming from a pink haired girl Sakura Haruno. She was in this class only because her mother forced it.

The laughs began anew safe from a few people. The first one was Sasuke Uchiha, he was too cool to laugh and had a better things to do, like having a stare off with his archnemesis, the wall. The second one was Hinata. The last was a platinum blonde girl, Yamanka Ino, she never spoke to the other blonde, but she always thought he was funny in some way.

After everybody calmed down Iruka pursued with the normal art class. It was useless but at least the brats shat up.

**Time skip** **6 months**

Naruto just turned nine today, he had a huge birthday gift presented to him by the ANBU commander. His own mask and the ANBU tattoo on his right shoulder meaning he finally completed the ANBU training and would become a true ninja.

Yugao came to the commander office with Naruto in tow for the inauguration as she was the referent for the soon to become ANBU. Dragon was sitting behind his desk with a blank mask on his desk as well as another nameless ANBU with a tattooing equipment. He motioned Naruto to go to the ANBU for the tattoo.

One hour later it was done. He was happy that the ink they used was chakra based so unless you had to show it, it would stay hidden because he has forgone the sleeves on his shirt as he always burned them off while using **Bijuu Cannon **at full power. The other task of it was to identify real ANBU because the tattoo had the chakra imprint from Dragon himself.

Naruto took the mask presented it to him not understanding why it was blank. Seeing this Dragon explained

"The mask of an ANBU is like his ID, no one has the same photo on it, right? It's the same for us, the mask will give you your new identity when you put it on."

Naruto nodded and tentatively put it on his face. Soon purple markings began forming an animal. He produced an Ox mask. An animal known for its great strength. After seeing what Naruto could do with his Yang, he didn't have any doubts about it.

"Welcome to the family Ushi. Stay in the HQ, tomorrow morning I will have the first mission for you." Said the commander

**Next day**

Naruto was woken up by Yugao at 5AM to announce that Dragon wanted their presence in his office at 6AM. When he got ready, she gave him a long box.

"I couldn't give you your birthday present yesterday, happy birthday Naruto. Come on open it."

Inside the box was a 50cm long wakizashi. It was perfectly pitch black and fit into a matte black scabbard, suited for a ninja since a reflection from a normal blade could reveal your position. It was beautifully crafted.

"It is coated in chakra metal, that way you keep a normal blade's sturdiness with the capacity to put chakra out. I went for the wakizashi because of your style and the **Hien no Jutsu **you learned from Asuma." It was at the time when Kurenai traded her favor with Asuma to help Naruto learn the wind chakra.

"Yugao-nee you shouldn't have, thank you so much" he hugged his sister in a bliss.

"It's okay Naruto-kun, now let's go see Dragon before he chews us both for being tardy"

When they entered his office, Dragon was sitting once again behind his desk. What did he do all day other than sitting? Did he sleep there? Was he even human?

"Perfect timing 6AM, I have a mission for both of you since Neko you are still his referent until the end of this mission. It will be simple, the Hokage wanted to see the firepower of Ushi in a real-life situation, don't hold any stops. Neko will carry you back if you exhaust your chakra. Don't worry it's all accounted for." He turned around and given them the files "The mission is simple some nukenin have gathered around 80 bandits around them. You are to infiltrate the camp if there are prisoners escort them out and then raze the camp to the ground. Dismissed"

As fast as they could Naruto and Yugao ran to the place around 100km away. They spotted a good place to oversee the camp and check for prisoners from afar. Thankfully or not there were none in this camp, only bandits and nukenins inside. This was good, they could launch an ambush attack at full power from the start.

A few hours later they had a plan. Yugao was here to only serve as an emergency back-up in case something went wrong. They waited until the bandits would be the most tired from the day and the hour has come.

Naruto made clones to secure a perimeter in case someone escaped. He recited the ANBU teachings _"they aren't humans only targets to kill for the good of the village"_. He signed to Yugao who signed back to him. He gave her his hands and she gripped them with all of her strength. She spun him around and threw him in the air in the direction of the camp. She herself went farther away knowing the plan.

When the bandits have seen a golden light in the sky, and someone scream **Yang Meteor** it was already too late. Naruto concentrated Yang in his legs and used the principle of the **Bijuu Cannon **to propulse himself to the ground at an immense speed. A few clones have done the same unleashing a hellish blast of energy evaporating anything in the radius of ten meters around and throwing back everything else. The clones popped at the impact themselves as the blast was too much for them.

The real Naruto stealing his nerves used his new **Bijuu Cannon **variation. He pumped Yin into his hands and thrust them outwards as to a normal one and screamed **Bijuu Tornado**. It started with the streams of Yin shooting fifty meters at each side when this was ready, he put his arms at an angle making the thrust spin him around.

Yugao herself was astounded. She hit the stop at her timer when the light from the Yin bubbly and red chakra died down letting her see a perfect circle where nothing, but Naruto existed. 30 seconds was the time he needed to destroy the camp. She wasn't sure if she would even be able to beat his time. It was the right call to put him to ANBU. Maybe he wasn't strong enough to fair against single strong ninja but his role as a castle destroyer was fulfilled even better than she thought.

In her amazement she hasn't seen Naruto falling to the ground because of chakra and mental exhaustion. The ANBU were prepared for anything on the missions because they were ninety percent of the time veterans. Naruto was integrated into ANBU before he even became a genin the normal way. This had to be over 80 kills for his first one, it had to take a toll on him.

She rapidly took him on her back whispering "You did good Naruto". She sprinted straight to the HQ to give her report to Dragon while Naruto was still asleep on her back.

"Neko, you are faster than I predicted. Did something wrong happen on the mission?"

"No sir, everything went perfectly and Ushi did like you told him, he lifted all of the stops that's why he's still asleep."

"Good now give me the report"

"We went to the destined location and positioned ourselves on a hill near the camp. Ushi used his **Negative Emotion Sensing **to determine that there were no prisoners. We waited for the night to make the ambush. All it took was around 30 seconds for the camp to cease existing. Nothing was left, I took a photo to prove the carnage that was made." She took a photo from her pouch and given it to him. It showed a perfect circle of ground. The grass was annihilated as well as a few meters of the soil.

"That's almost alarming, that would put him on par with our A rank demolishers at least at this occasion. I already have the report from the drill instructors about his strength, but I want your honest opinion about him."

"Ushi is the typical case of the ANBU that we take for their special powers and bloodlines at an early age. His personal skills are at most mid chunin which is above good for a child his age but most of the ANBUs would destroy him. His skills wouldn't save him since most of them require charging for a small amount of time. In the future he should concentrate about his normal ninja skills."

"Understood, good job, your payments will be in your accounts by tomorrow. Take Ushi to the Yamanaka as well he's going to need a third unbiased party to talk to. Dismissed" The accounts that ANBU used were different. They had their own bank that passed their funds through some other ANBU made banks that accepted anyone. This way their identities remained well hidden.

Yugao took Naruto to the nursing dormitories for him to sleep, she took off his boots, mask and armor. Watching him she smiled, since they started training him, he went from a normal child to someone with a body made for combat. Nothing too bulky, just defined muscles started to show on his arms. She was happy for her little brother. She gave him a kiss on the forehead and skipped her way to her boyfriend.

**Next day**

Naruto was out of the nurse station when the medics discharged him after checking for his chakra exhaustion. The sight of Yugao without her mask greeted him out of the room. She could feel he was a bit gloomier than most of the time.

"Hello Naruto-kun, Dragon has given us some orders, we are going to the T&I department for you to talk to someone."

"Hi Yugao-nee, if I have to then let's go." He took her hand, an action he hasn't done in ages and they strolled together to the building while talking about everything and nothing. When they arrived, they didn't go to the torture section but what was written on the door was "ANBU Psych". It was a place for the ANBU to get their mental health in check.

They were professionals but they still remained humans. Sometimes they needed to see someone to talk to. This was the place, it had only the department's heads such as Yamanaka Inoichi and Ibiki Morino. He may have been a sadist, but this made him particularly knowledgeable in how to help the victims as well.

Naruto was destined to meet the Yamanka, he was the guy that served as the psychiatrist while Ibiki was more of a psychologist. Entering the room, he has seen a platinum blonde man around his late 30's. He had a kind smile looking at his next patient.

"Good morning Naruto-kun, in here you aren't exactly an ANBU, you are my patient. That's why we will be on the name basis. Do you want Yugao to stay with you or do you prefer her to wait for the conclusion?"

"I prefer to be alone for this. No offense Yugao-nee but with you here I won't be as comfortable as with a stranger that won't judge." She understood that very well. Close people tended to either try to help with soothing words or would judge you even if in the slightest. He needed someone that would just listen or give genuine professional advice.

"I will wait outside, don't worry Naruto-kun." Said Yugao quitting the room.

"Do you want to start Naruto-kun? Or would you prefer for me to ask questions?" Inoichi asked

"I want to start before the feelings of yesterday start to fade. You see I was in the class with one of your clan members Ino. While she is learning how to throw shuriken in the academy, I was already killing people. I knew what it entailed thinking I was ready. And I was until I have seen the massacre that I did yesterday. I have killed around eighty men in a time span of thirty seconds. And it was only the first time, I will do these missions often now. I know that I was always supposed to be a weapon for this village, it scares me that I will grow so accustomed to this that I will lose my humanity and become the monster the villagers always wanted me to be."

Inoichi was listening intently noting everything on a piece of paper. He could see the emotional turmoil in Naruto's eyes. It was true that he became one of the youngest demolishers in ANBU and considering his upbringing it wasn't the perfect place for him to be. But he was the ultimate weapon to be for the village, he knew it himself. It was too early for that, but they didn't have any other option. Putting him inside a normal cell would only serve as a balance breaker.

"Listen Naruto-kun, we all think we are ready to kill when we quit the training, every time it backfires on us. Most of the veterans have mental problems that they cope by having strange quirks. You will understand in the future if you meet some of them. You killing these people was the only option we had. You protected the new generation this way. We never grow accustomed to the killing. It becomes a part of us that makes us protect our companions from the fate that we give to others. The ANBU creed is a testament 'We fight to win. We fight from the shadows to protect those that can't protect themselves.'. Remember that you aren't killing people, you are saving those that would end up hurt."

Naruto widened his eyes hearing those words. He never understood what they actually meant, in his juvenile mind the ANBU killed, deceived and stole for the village. The real fact was that they protected everyone by doing it.

"Thank you, Inoichi-san. I think you just gave me a new understanding of what am I doing. Can I come see you or Ibiki-san in case I need to talk to anyone?"

"Of course, Naruto-kun. Now let's call Yugao back inside to give her a debrief." He opened the door and asked Yugao to come in.

"Now I explained to Naruto some things. Please make sure he gets some rest from the missions. I showed him the meaning of your own creed to make sure that he knows why he is sent on those missions. I would advise to bring him to me around once a month, we don't want another Itachi." He spoke with a sad face remembering the night when the boy killed all of his clan.

"Understood Inoichi, I will see to that. I think Dragon will give him at least two weeks of leeway."

With that they quit the office going to the HQ to get their "civilian" clothes. And finally go home for Naruto who hasn't been there in almost six months. That was the rule for new recruits during their training. You stayed at the designed dormitories and slept with the others.

Naruto had a bad feeling about it knowing that probably his apartment would be destroyed like always. He was right, the door was destroyed, the windows broken and the inside empty with a homeless being inside.

Sighing he went away, no need to get there anymore he would sleep at the HQ. Yugao didn't have anything of that. She gathered Kurenai and Anko and the four of them went to Naruto's favorite restaurant Ichiraku ramen. After the small chit-chat with the chef and his daughter his ex-senseis started talking."

"So how is your new life Naruto-kun?" asked Kurenai sipping the broth

"Rough, I had my first mission yesterday. It only showed me how different the world outside was and how much I wasn't prepared for that. Other than that, someone destroyed my apartment. I will need to sleep at the HQ for the moment." He said with a carefree voice as if he was talking about the weather.

"I would take him in but Hayate and I just bought the house, and we're still moving so there isn't much space with all the cartons" said Yugao.

Kurenai couldn't take him in as well, she was living in a small apartment and there wasn't any place for an extra bed. Anko thought about it for a second.

"I could take him in. I don't have enough space for the second bed, but my couch can deploy to make an emergency bed."

"Are you sure Anko-nee? I don't want to be a bother. Especially since I could go on missions in the night."

"Don't worry this happens to all of us. Let's just call it a payback for the seal."

"Thank you, nee-chan. I will pitch to the rent though."

They finished their bowls or four for Naruto and went their ways to their respective houses.

**Time skip 2 weeks**

Two weeks have passed since that day. Dragon truly gave him this time off duty. Naruto used this time to train himself, he wasn't able to reach anything other chunin right now, his age blocked him for the moment but he polished everything he could in the time until one of the mind gates opened transferring him the knowledge of one jutsu, the **Rasengan**. His father had much faith in him to give it so soon to him.

It was a great addition for his arsenal, he needed this kind of short-range firepower. While mastering it over the course of two weeks he made progress with a side project of his, the **Yang Laser**. He found a way to concentrate the Yang into a thin beam that had power to punch 4cm wide holes straight through rocks.

He found out the hard way that he couldn't do the same with the Yin. It didn't have the force to stay coalesced for a long time resulting in a blast of Yin that covered everything in it burning it like napalm. He was thankful that he coated himself in Yang before the Yin hit him.

Today he was called back by Dragon for a new mission. He grabbed his gear and put his mask on. Anko was still sleeping so he left a note on her nightstand that he was gone. He **Shunshinned **to the office where dragon has thrown a scroll at him.

"You are to go to the border with the Grass country. Some agents are already there. You will transfer these orders to them and help the apprehend or kill the nukenins that will try to cross the borders. Dismissed. Run fast."

Naruto didn't wait for Dragon to take another breath. He was already running through one of the tunnels under the village that would let him go straight to the mission point. Exiting the tunnel, he took out the bingo book reading the files of the nukenins.

"Hmm Mizuki, 27 years old chunin. Nothing special, kill on sight because of his uselessness. Next, Amai Dokumi another chunin who felt he wasn't appreciated enough still nothing special. Some eternal genins, oh they are the three bastards that tried to rape Anko-nee, now is my chance for revenge. Anko will get them straight into her hands."

He ran for the next few hours until he spotted one of the ANBU. "Ushi you are finally here. What are the orders?"

"Ha! Everything is written in this scroll Tora-taichou"

After reading the scroll Tora showed Naruto the way to the camp. There was a map where "x" were the possible traversing points for the nins. He ordered Naruto to make some clones to take watch there.

"Tora-taichou, I have a request. Let me capture the eternal genins. They will be a gift for someone."

"As long as it doesn't compromise the mission you are free to do it"

"Thank you, sir"

Night has fallen and one of the clones just popped signaling Naruto the location of the runners. Signaling to his commandant they all went out. First appeared to be Mizuki. Naruto never liked the bastard in school. Now he knew why.

The other agents wanted to jump in, but Naruto showed the sign to halt. He extended his finger and created a vortex of Yang around it. The principle was easy, the science defined that there was chakra in the air around them and it was considered a fluid. By making the Yang spin it created a fast-moving chakra with lower pressure. The Venturi effect applied to it making the beam concentrated.

He shot his **Yang Laser **straight at Mizuki's heart. The effect most instantaneous the blunt force of the impact instead of evaporating the flesh punched a hole in it making a huge part of his heart fly out. He was dead.

The agents ran straight to Amai Dokumi killing him in an instant. They frowned under their masks when they heard a sizzling sound under his vest. The bastard would try to injure them even in death. They ran away as fast as they could but Shika (= deer) was hit with a shrapnel of wood that went through his leg.

Naruto wanted to go straight to the other three targets. He was stopped by the explosion and the feeling that Shika was badly hurt. He created a clone to follow the genins who ran back into the forest and rushed to his ally.

"Everybody get away from him, I will heal him. Don't worry in a few seconds you will be in perfect shape. Taichou the other targets are followed by my clone"

He put a lingering flame of Yang on his finger. Shika was scared seeing what it has done before. To his astonishment he didn't feel any pain as the flame urged the wound to close. With a short thank you he stood up. Naruto ran back to the first mission.

"Who would've thought that a kid could be a demolisher and a medic at the same time." Murmured Shika and everybody around nodded. They went back to the corpses of the victims to dispose of them.

Naruto joined his clone and quietly took out his wakizashi. Pumped Yang into his legs and ran straight at the cowering eternal genins. They couldn't react when the same golden flash appeared between them. Naruto used the **Hien no jutsu **at the last moment of the swing to extend his range cutting all of their Achille's tendons making them fall. He took the prison scrolls given to him by his squad and sealed them inside.

The mission was done, the squad could head back home without any casualties thanks to Naruto. That would earn him some points with the other black ops. The road was silent for the most part only Shika said a louder thank you to Naruto for the quick help. Once again, they were all in the Dragon office. He was too often in this place.

"Good job everyone, I will take the prisoners and heads of the runners to the T&I."

"Dragon-taichou, can I give the prisoners to Anko myself?"

"Yes, give the heads to them as well. Dismissed"

Naruto ended in the T&I building using the tunnels under the village. It was convenient for them, instead of going around the buildings they head straight roads to every important place in the village such as hospitals and administrative buildings.

He has seen Anko lounging on a couch drinking coffee and chatting with Ibiki about a new torture she invented. It was deranging to hear them laugh about it. Maybe these were the quirks that Inoichi told him about. He put his mask on his belt and greeted the both.

"Hello Ibiki-san, Anko-nee. I have brought you some gifts, two heads to scan and three eternal genins that you know pretty well Anko-nee" he said with a mischievous smile throwing them the scrolls. Anko reciprocated the smile with her own and stood up.

"I think I will test what we were talking about earlier than expected." Said Anko

Later that day all they learned was the fact that someone offered them a place in grass country, but they didn't know who. Anko faked the fact that she knew they were telling the truth and played with them for a long time after that. They died the next day.

**Time skip 4 years (Naruto's 13yo if you didn't keep track with the ages)**

Naruto lounged in his and Anko's house. It wasn't particularly big but had three rooms and two bathrooms which was more than enough for them. After a month of living together they decided to buy a place for them. Naruto having the pay of an ANBU helped greatly in the effort.

Speaking of him he had grown quite a bit. His puberty began around a year ago, Anko still made fun of him remembering his voice change. He has grown to around 1m65 slightly above average than guys his age. The added testosterone in his body defined his muscles making his shoulders and biceps visible thanks to his sleeveless shirt. His wardrobe didn't change much since that time. The biggest change was in his hair. He learned on a mission in Land of Earth that his spiky blonde hair made them remember the Yondaime, his dad. So, he had let it grow to a point he could make a short ponytail out of it. He slicked it all to the back this way it didn't catch too much light on stealth missions. His face matured without any baby fat thanks to constant missions and training.

His puberty did him another favor. It destroyed the roadblock in his training. His body started to adapt to the skills he needed to learn opening new mind gates containing advanced moves of his tai and kenjutsu as well as some jutsus. Making him able to rival early jounins if he pushed it. He should be around the same level or a bit stronger than Itachi at his age.

He could say his life was good at the moment. He didn't have much social life apart from Anko, Kurenai and Yugao. He was quite protective of all of them showing it when he scared Asuma using his Kyuubified eyes if he did something to make Kurenai cry. The same happened to Hayate.

His career in ANBU evolved when he did the toughest demolition mission in all of his time. It was a way to help the now appointed fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi, to liberate her people. He did it by destroying three keeps that were just before evacuated of prisoners. It was his first mission as the captain.

_Flashback_

He looked at his men and women. They were Neko, Inu and Tenzo, or Yugao, Kakashi and Yamato who didn't even have a real name. He looked on the plans of the keep, it was the last one that housed a big amount of the anti-bloodline faction as well as many prisoners.

"We are going to wait for the night I will make you a door to evacuate the prisoners when you are ready go as far away as you can, I want to test a new skill I invented."

And wait for the night they did. As soon as hey entered the hold they sensed something was amiss. The prisoners were all asleep and no guard was there. They unlocked the cells and started to take out the people inside. As they wanted to exit, they found themselves blocked. All of the ninja that were supposed to be inside waited just outside the wall. It was an ambush, they had to be informed about the other keeps.

"Fast Neko, Inu take the prisoners outside and run I will hold them here. Tenzo assist me." This wasn't time to question the orders and they did as told.

For the next hour they transported the people inside while Naruto and Yamato fought for their lives with Naruto healing Yamato anytime he was hurt. They seemed to just never end until Kakashi came with good news.

"The prisoners are outside" he screamed

"Good now run, Tenzo close as many as you can in a dome and run as fast as you can. I will make them disappear." Tenzo nodded and gathered the most chakra he could without hampering his escape.

"**Mokuton: Mokujoheki!**" he screamed proud of himself closing all of the assailants in the dome and ran away as fast as he could. When Naruto sensed them far enough, he launched his new technique.

He made holes in the dome with the yin and put his hands in them. He created two balls, one of Yin and one with Yang inside. The idea behind was that when both of those would mix, they would produce neutral bijuu chakra. In this case he slammed them together making the mixing far too fast resulting in a chained reaction explosion. He screamed "**Yin-Yang Nova!" **and let the balls slam into each other as far away from him as he could and taking cover himself.

The dome opened on the top and released a beam of light to the sky. He would have to calibrate the power output another day happy with the result. After which he coated the keep in the yin to melt it to the ground.

_Flashback end_

That was one of many demolition missions that Naruto took. He remained on the sofa until an ANBU came to his house and told him "Ushi the Hokage requests your presence". With a sigh Naruto prepared himself for another mission in his mind and **Shunshinned **to appear on his knee before the Hokage. Strangely next to him was Inu in the same position.

"Please stand up Naruto-kun, Kakashi. Take off your masks as well you won't be needing them for the next mission" said the Hokage.

_**End chapter 2**_

**Thanks for reading**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, I wouldn't have to go through college. Every character belongs to Kishimoto unless they are my own OCs.

"Talk"

"_Thoughts"_

"**Bijuu, summons"**

**Jutsu**

**AN: I'm not very skilled in fighting scenes as I often skip them while reading. Oops.**

"Please stand up Naruto-kun, Kakashi. Take off your masks as well you won't be needing them for the next mission" said the Hokage. They did as told and took off their masks. Hiruzen couldn't believe how his grandchild in all but blood has grown both in size and as a ninja. He could still remember the small kid running around the village.

"As we all know here a certain Uchiha Sasuke turned really bad since his brother killed his family. Inoichi and I are sure he shouldn't be let into the ninja program, but the council tries to push him through. Kakashi, Naruto-kun this mission entails you to become normal ninja. Kakashi you are going to be their team sensei. Naruto-kun you are to pose as a genin. Your team is going to be composed of yourselves, Sasuke and Yamanaka Ino."

Getting apprehensive looks from both of them he continued. "This team is made entirely to keep the Uchiha from doing something stupid. Ino doesn't know it though but her clan skills will be useful in knowing what happens in the head of the boy. Secondly her father, Inoichi, wants you, Naruto, to set her straight."

Ino was Inoichi's daughter? The sly fox never mentioned it. Oh well he helped him so many times that doing him a favor wouldn't hurt. As the Sandaime ended the mission detail and told them the pay of an A-rank to both of them every two weeks as well as what they earned on missions both of them quit the office.

"So Kakashi-_sensei _what are you planning to do? You can go full out on missions, but I'm supposed to be a lowly genin. I know that you are going to test us even if we must succeed anyway because of the council."

"Don't worry just don't put too much of a show. After all you were an apprentice from the age of eight right. As for the test it's the bell test I told you before. If they don't cooperate, I will give them to you to make it seem like at least you want to work together." Kakashi replied with mirth in his voice.

They quit the building and went their ways. Naruto went home and sat next to Anko on the sofa sighing.

"What's going on Naruto-kun? The mission didn't go well?"

"No, it went perfectly. It's the mission itself, Kakashi and I are to babysit the Uchiha "prince". I'm supposed to work as a genin. A fucking genin when I can destroy strategic points of entire armies myself earning an S-rank in demolition division. Now I should barely be able to hold a kunai. At least the pay is good." He ranted to which Anko patted his head to then put more oil into the fire.

"Don't forget about the D-ranks" she reminded him with a smirk to which Naruto thought he was going to cry. At least he team placements were in a few hours.

Naruto made his way to the academy in his normal clothes leaving the ANBU gear in the HQ in case he was called for emergencies. He put up his cloth mask and went inside the classroom which was empty for the moment. He may have a painful mission right now, but he would still play with the Uchiha boy. He seemed to forget they were the same age.

People began entering the room noticing the new arriving member, but no one tried to speak to him because of the aura that he exuded that said, 'don't talk to me'. The class was finally full, and the teacher came in.

At this moment Sasuke, against his judgement, wanted to show his dominance over the new kid. He was an 'elite' after all. He came to Naruto who was laughing with Kurama about what was going to happen. Sasuke opened his big mouth and spoke.

"What's your name?"

"I'm gay" Naruto replied

"I'm gay, fight me!" Sasuke didn't catch what he said until it hit him when everybody was keeping in the laughter until everybody burst out and Sasuke went back to his place to stare at the wall. Naruto gave a mental high-five to Kurama.

Iruka composed himself from the scene, this was the supposed guy that would fill one of the teams. He did his speech of proudness and will of fire and began naming the teams "Team 7 will be Sasuke Uchiha, Ino Yamanaka and what? Uzumaki Naruto!?"

At this moment Naruto took off his mask showing his whisker marks and gave Iruka a friendly wave "Long time no see sensei, yeah since you guys missed a member for the teams I was recalled from my apprenticeship"

Ino was ecstatic, two good looking guys on her team, she needed to know more about Naruto at this moment, she would question him later though.

Iruka continued a bit baffled "Your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi. Next, team eight will be Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame with Kurenai Yuhi as your teacher. Team nine still exists. Team ten will be Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Sakura Haruno with Asuma Sarutobi as your sensei. That will be all, they will be here to get you in around fifteen minutes."

The teams sat down together trying to chat, but everyone was too nervous thinking about their future. Soon the teachers started coming in. Kurenai and Asuma came in together with Kurenai having a glow around her. Naruto waved at them.

"Hey Kurenai-nee Asuma-sensei"

"Naruto-kun!" "Naruto" they said in unison they both knew why he was here "We would love to talk more to you, but we have our teams to meet, see you later" told Kurenai giving him a goodbye wave. Before she could leave Ino asked Naruto how he knew them. Kurenai wanted to see what Naruto would tell about her.

"Kurenai-nee was my sensei before I was forced to be in the team." He answered. Sasuke wanted to put Naruto down for his earlier stunt and said "I bet she's as weak as you are" out loud. Asuma wanted to put the kid down but Naruto beat him to it. He strolled down the aisle until he was in front of Sasuke and then bitch slapped him across the face.

"That's your first education lesson. Do not speak down to your superiors." He calmly said and went to Kurenai and Asuma to apologize about his "teammate". When they left, he went back to his seat. The Hokage made him babysit the brat so he did.

The class soon emptied leaving only the Team 7 waiting in the room. Sasuke still had the hand imprint on his face and seethed because he couldn't do anything about it because there were two jonins to incriminate him.

Ino started losing her calm in this atmosphere and went to Naruto to get some info about him. "So, Naruto what have you been doing out of the academy?"

He couldn't say the truth but could offer some insight to not appear rude to the girl, she was Inoichi's daughter after all.

"I trained under Kurenai-nee and two of her friends sometime. I became a shinobi a bit before you and I've been on some missions. Our teacher won't be coming for at least two hours, I'm going out if he comes earlier tell him that I will be at the usual spot" before he could leave Ino grabbed his arm and asked if she could come with him. He didn't see any problem with it Sasuke would stay anyway if Kakashi comes back earlier.

They went to Naruto's house. Opening the door, he saw Anko's boots, so he screamed "Anko-nee, I'm home with a teammate, so in case you are once again in your underwear put at least the bath robe." This made Ino blush a bit, it was the first time she was in a boy's house.

"Naruto just give me a minute I'm in the bathroom" they heard Anko reply and a moment later she came down in a bath robe with still wet hair. "My Naru-kun has brought a girl home already, you grow up so fast" she mock cried and wiped a tear.

"Not funny Anko-nee, she really is just a teammate, after all, we met for the first time in about five years. Kakashi-sensei is late as usual, so I came in to grab a bite" this made Ino sadden a bit, she wasn't even a friend for the moment. Well she could only blame herself because she never talked to him.

They went to the kitchen and Naruto asked Ino if she wanted something to eat. She didn't because she was on a diet. He sighed, he would have to beat it out of her soon but it could wait for now.

While he was cooking some simple fried chicken, Anko took out a cold beer out of the fridge. They seemed so comfortable around each other from Ino's point of view. She started asking her questions

"You called Kurenai-sensei, Kurenai-nee before and now Anko-san, Anko-nee. Are you all related?"

"It's Anko or Anko-chan brat. I'm too young to become a san. And no, we are not related. We are all really close friends to the point where Naruto became our family in all but blood. That's why we live together." Anko answered

"It's Ino, not brat"

"Yeah I know you are Inoichi's daughter. For now, you are still a brat to me kiddo, until you prove to me that you are a real kunoichi" she took another sip of beer. That meant that Naruto has already proven himself to her.

The afternoon went calmly with Ino and Naruto chatting and bonding over some tea. It was time to go back to the academy. Naruto didn't feel like running so he grabbed Ino's hand and **Shunshinned **them both in front of the class.

Sasuke was still in the same position as when they left. It had to be some record for staying still for so long. Did he even blink? They weren't sure. Five minutes later a silver haired man came inside.

"You are my kids now, meet me at the roof" Kakashi would pay for that.

Naruto took Ino's hand and **Shunshinned **once again them both to the roof leaving a baffled Sasuke seeing the supposed weak link of the team using it. He lifted his butt from the seat and went to the stairs himself.

When he arrived, his team was casually chatting waiting for his arrival. He positioned himself on the stairs and assumed his preferred position.

"Now my cute little _genin _why don't you introduce yourselves" Kakashi said with a visible mirth at the word genin to which Naruto gained a tick mark on his forehead. "You first mister stay-still"

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I don't have many likes and have a lot of dislikes. I have an ambition to kill someone and restore my clan" He was really good at keeping still. He said it all without his body moving a millimeter.

"You forgot to tell that you are gay, as you so proudly said this morning" Naruto said with a snicker. He didn't have to antagonize him that much but the Hokage forced him into this mission and he was going to take all possibilities to have fun.

"Now you blondie" Kakashi continued

"Which one?" Naruto and Ino asked

"The platinum one"

"Ehem. My name is Ino Yamanaka. I like my family, fashion, gardening and I think Naruto here would be a good friend. I dislike Sakura and perverts. My dream is to make my father proud of me." She said smiling at Naruto, he gave her a good first impression.

"The sunny one for the last"

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like training, ramen, my nee-chans, ramen, one of my teammates, ramen. I dislike perverts, people that don't strive to better themselves, people who don't understand fuinjutsu and one _late dog_" he said the last part with the same mirth that Kakashi used for the word genins before.

"_**Oh is my Naru-kun warming up to girl his age finally." **_Kurama teased her host internally to which Naruto just growled mentally.

"Why don't you do introduce yourself _sensei_" Naruto said. Ino was starting to feel some tension between her teacher and the fellow blonde. Even if she didn't understand why.

"I will try. I'm Hatake Kakashi. I have a few dislikes and you are too young to learn about my likes and dreams." They didn't learn anything. Or at least Sasuke and Ino didn't since Naruto worked with him many times.

"That's all for today meet me at 7AM at training ground 7. I advise you to not eat before or you are going to puke" Kakashi said and **Shunshinned **somewhere.

"Waking up so early isn't good for my skin, though not eating shouldn't be a problem since I never do it in the morning for my diet" said Ino to her teammates. Naruto couldn't listen to it anymore, the girl would kill herself if she continued like that.

"Ino we need to have a serious talk about what you just said. Come with me I will show you what I mean, no isn't a possible answer." Ino was puzzled at the change of her blonde brethren, but she followed him anyway. They ended up in a bar only for the shinobi. That way if anything happened while drunk the civilians weren't hurt.

Inside they found out Kurenai, Yugao, Anko, Asuma and Hayate chatting and sipping alcohol. They have seen each other and before Ino knew she was already talking with some jonins. How did Naruto know all of them?

"So, Naruto what do you wanted to talk about before?" she asked

"Anko-nee, Kurenai-nee, Yugao-nee can you stand up for me for a second?" they didn't see why but they did anyway "Ino look closely and tell me do you think that they would be what guys would call hot?" This made Ino blush and all of the adults look critically at Naruto

"Does our Naruto-kun feel attracted to his sisters?" asked Yugao looking at him. Asuma and Hayate looked at him wanting to know as well if he had a sister complex. Truly they wouldn't even be surprised by it.

"No, the only attraction I feel to the three of you is the gravity every body with mass produces." He shot her down making everyone else chuckle "now Ino answer my question."

"You are kidding right? They are gorgeous I want to look like them."

"Nee-chans how much do you eat daily?"

"At least 7000 calories, 10 000 if on a mission day"

"Around 9000"

"Around 9000 as well"

Ino eyes widened listening at these numbers, these were the numbers a bodybuilder wouldn't even eat yet these three sexy looking ladies ate that.

"You see Ino our chakra production and training make us burn calories at a very high rate. A civilian would become obese with our type of diets. Your diet is the contrary to our own. You eat so few calories that your puberty will be stunted and instead of growing like my nee-chans you will become flat as a board or if you drop your intake you will simply die. And you don't want to feel that I assure you" He said the last part so quietly that it was barely audible. Ino was asking herself what he meant by that.

She looked at the jonins around her and did something she never thought she would. She went to the bar and asked for the biggest burger they served. She struggled but ate all of it taking to heart what was said.

"Good job kiddo, you just got yourself one step out of being a brat" said Anko. A praise of a jonin felt so good to her ears "To give you a hint the next step would be to start training to make yourself an example for other kunoichi."

"See Ino everybody wants to help you here. Take their advice and make yourself better one step at the time. At last most of the kunoichi are already at least pretty and you have what it takes in face department. Since Anko-nee is drinking I guess that she won't be up tomorrow until noon. I will come to your house at 8AM and make you a nutritious breakfast because I bet you don't know what to eat now. Don't worry Kakashi-sensei is always late at least two hours we will have the time." Naruto said oblivious to the looks of the adults were giving him.

"Thank you Naruto-kun" she answered adding kun to Naruto's name before they realized the looks they were given.

"Our Naru-chan doesn't like his sisters because we aren't blondes. I would hurry up Anko-chan or Naru-chan will find a special someone before you" said Kurenai, the trio could only blush at the laughs that were directed at them.

"We should go Ino, the bar will change to full drinking mode and we aren't old enough to stay. Goodbye everyone. I will come fetch Anko at 1AM like always" making Anko blush even harder. Who was the real adult in their house?

Naruto brought Ino home where her father mouthed a 'thank you' to Naruto seeing her daughter so happy. He was even more thankful when she asked for extra training even if it would break her. She had long arrears in her career.

Like Naruto said he went to the bar at 1AM to fetch for Anko who had drunk a bit too much. He **Shunshinned **them to the house taking off her clothes and putting her to bed. He went to his own ready for tomorrow since he knew what Kakashi planned.

Next morning Naruto knocked on the Yamanaka's house door. The one to open was Inoichi who did take Naruto aside for the moment

"Why are here so early Naruto-kun? And what did you do to my daughter she asked for a big meal and training yesterday?"

"It's simple I brought her to talk with nee-chans who showed her the real meaning of being a kunoichi. And for my presence Kakashi will give us the bell test and I know that she doesn't know how to make a proper breakfast. I proposed to make her one yesterday and she agreed."

"Thank you, you don't know what it means to me to see my princess to take her career seriously. Now come in she's already waiting"

Naruto came inside and have seen Ino checking her gear for the day. She didn't wear any make-up and Naruto had to say that she was much prettier without it. He went to the kitchen after saying hello to Ino. Fifteen minutes later she was served eggs and bacon. When she finished, he took out a cake full of slow carbs yet equally as delicious as a normal one.

"I will make you a breakfast everyday now until you learn what to eat to have plenty of energy. I will tell you if you will have to come to my house or I will come to yours. Don't worry about it." Inoichi was looking from behind a corner at the scene, he couldn't be happier for the moment seeing Naruto do the favor he asked and more.

"We should get going, Kakashi-sensei will probably arrive in about 20 minutes. Remember we will probably need to work as a team, if Sasuke disagrees just work with me." He told her having a feeling that he forgot about something.

When they arrived at the training ground, he remembered what he forgot. Sasuke was sitting under a tree, his face a bit green and bags under his eyes. That was it, he forgot to tell him about the meeting real time and to eat. Doesn't matter anyway. He chatted with Ino about what she could do to improve. He didn't care why she wanted to do it if she did.

Kakashi finally graced them with their presence seeing that Naruto and Ino were lively and not hungry at all, on the contrary Sasuke was sitting under the tree looking as if he was going to die any moment. Maybe it would force him to work with the team. If not, they always had a back-up plans.

Kakashi eye smiled at his students and walked near them. "We are going to have a test today, the real genin test. What you had at the academy was just an exam to see if you have more than three braincells. You will have to get those two bells off me before noon. The person that doesn't get them will be sent back to academy. Now 3..2..1.. GO!"

As soon as he said it Naruto grabbed Ino and ran to hide. Sasuke though stayed in the field looking at Kakashi straight in the eyes.

"Now, now Sasuke. You should have done the same that your teammates did, you would have more chance if you ambushed me. After all you are only a _genin_." Kakashi said while opening his orange book. Sasuke thought he was the one being taunted but the real victim was Naruto who promised death in great suffering to Kakashi.

"I don't need an ambush I am an elite of the shinobi" Sasuke proudly said. Kakashi could only curse the council for giving the boy such a megalomaniac view on life.

"You see Sasuke just by staying here proves you are not an 'elite' as you like to call yourself. A real elite would look for any opening like Naruto did when he ran before I said go and brought his teammate doubling their chances of survival."

Sasuke seethed at being put down and rushed at Kakashi at an impressive for a genin speed. But compared to his brother or the powerhouse he had on the team it was nothing, he just had to keep his eye off the book to not take a single hit.

Meanwhile Naruto and Ino observed the situation. Naruto was cursing Kakashi in his mind and Kurama was having a giggling fit at his expense.

"This idiot is going to kill us all. Wait no if it plays right, we can salvage this situation. Ino will you work with me? If I get a bell, I will give it to you and go back to apprenticeship." He lied to her, but this was the protocol. She nodded, he already helped her so much she would give the favor back.

"That's what we are going to do…" he explained her the plan he had made according to what Kakashi was doing.

Soon enough the occasion arose. Kakashi bound Sasuke to a tree after having enough of this useless battle. He went back to a rock to sit down and enjoy his "fine" literature. As soon as he sat down a smoke bomb went off as well as kunai sailed to him.

He caught it with ease but the sizzling sound at its bottom unnerved him. The exploding tags were just about to explode. He did a swift **Kawarimi. **Naruto really wanted to kill him for the taunts before. He was glad that Naruto couldn't go full bananas on his ass with the onlookers.

He looked around to see Ino cutting Sasuke free. He wanted to throw a kunai at her, but something stopped him.

"I won't let you **Futon: Daitoppa**" he pushed Kakashi back making a smoke screen out of the dust. He jumped straight in with two kunais.

"Kakashi we have a problem, if Sasuke agrees to our plan I feel he's going to try to incinerate us both with his katon jutsu. If he does that you won't be able to make a lie good enough to make us pass for the teamwork" Naruto said while striking the kunais in his hands, it was a stupid and effective method to simulate the sound of battle.

"I had a plan for that, just be sure to remember the third law of the ANBU code."

"The life of your friends is more valuable than your own" they both said

"Okay Kakashi now kick me out of here and do what you have to do. Fast before the dust falls!"

Naruto flew out of the plume of dust making his fall even more dramatic to accentuate the strength difference. If he ever wanted to quit being ninja, he would become an actor for sure. He sensed what happened. Kakashi came out of the woods with an unconscious Sasuke and a wiggling Ino.

"These games tire me. I will give you a chance you or her? If you don't kill yourself, I will kill Ino and then seal Sasuke's chakra for good. At least he will make a good breeding stock." Kakashi making a **Chidori **to show his point.

Naruto didn't hesitate, he took one of his kunai and plunged it in his abdomen. He was sure that Kakashi would stop him millimeters away, but no, this bastard let him stab himself. He was going to fuck his life up so much that even his mother wouldn't recognize him.

Ino was too shocked of what has just happened. Her new friend has just killed himself to protect her. She felt so weak seeing Naruto fall to the ground. She wiggled herself free and ran to him.

"Kakashi-sensei why? Please help him." She cried but before she could finish Naruto was already taken by Kakashi to the hospital.

"Come with Sasuke to the hospital in a few hours, I will give you a response for that."

Meanwhile Naruto has just closed his wound with the Yang and whispered to Kakashi "I will hurt you so bad you bastard. I will ask Anko-nee to lend me her torture tools. I would sleep with one eye open from now on if I were you." Kakashi gulped knowing that Naruto was capable of doing it. Maybe he really pushed it too far?

A few hours later Ino came to the hospital with Sasuke. She had to almost beg him to come but finally he relented. Her eyes were red and puffy seeing time and again the scene of Naruto plunging a kunai into his stomach to save her.

She came inside Naruto's room who had useless bandage over his non existing wound. Kakashi was on his bedside reading his orange book. Ino seeing this seethed in anger not understanding how their teacher could be so insane and insensitive. Little did she know that she was in the presence of two insane ANBUs.

"Naruto-kun are you alright? How are you feeling. I'm so sorry for being so weak" she rushed to him. Naruto felt bad for making her this worried, but he didn't have a choice that time.

"Yeah I'm alright Ino. I missed any vital organs on purpose, they only had to stitch me up a bit. Don't worry about being weak. Nobody begins strong. The fact that you see that you need more training is a proof of your strength already." He said with a smile which lifted her spirits.

"Now Kakashi-sensei why did you let Naruto stab himself? And now you are here like nothing happened?" she screamed at Kakashi

"That's because Naruto found out the true meaning of the test, it was about teamwork. You listened to him but Sasuke didn't even want to hear any explication, right?" she nodded her head. It was as he always knew what they were doing in the forest.

"You see Naruto became a shinobi before you and already went on some missions outside the village. He understands what the Will of Fire means. He didn't hesitate one moment to sacrifice himself for his teammates and I needed you to see it in the first place. My late friend once told me 'the one who breaks rules are scum but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum'. Naruto did exactly that, he preferred to forgo the rules of mission completion for your sake. Learn from this experience and get your understanding of the Will of Fire." He let them ponder that for a bit Ino seemed to understand what Naruto has done as for Sasuke he thought that Naruto should sacrifice his lowly life for himself.

"Now that this explanation is done, because of Naruto you all pass! Meet me tomorrow at noon to let Naruto heal his wounds" Kakashi said and quit the building through the door to get the newest Icha-Icha. The truth was Kakashi would sleep now in case Naruto exacted his vengeance. Sasuke followed his suit.

"Naruto-kun, are you sure you are alright? You stabbed yourself pretty deep."

"Don't worry Ino. I heal very fast and with the help of medic-nin I will be up by tomorrow. Now get something to eat and train. If you need some help you can come back or ask Anko-nee if she's home." He told her shooing her out. It wouldn't be good for her to lose the motivation she got just before.

She went out and Naruto planned his vendetta against Kakashi. If he had to be serious the plan was already in action.

**Time skip 1 week**

Naruto came with Ino to the training ground chatting as usual about how she had gotten better with her father's help. Soon Kakashi came in as well. He looked really bad. His face was green and had huge bags under his eyes. This was Naruto's plan, he wouldn't hurt Kakashi directly. Every night he would send a clone to Kakashi's house. The clone would hit the wall, open the lock or the window making Kakashi always on the edge to the point that he wouldn't sleep for three days now, too scared of his student.

"Hello Kakashi-sensei, _slept well?_" Naruto asked making sure to mock Kakashi for his sleep deprivation. Kakashi could only growl, he knew it was Naruto all the time, but he could never catch the culprit. He asked himself what would come first. Naruto would stop or he would go insane? Naruto wasn't sure either.

Other than that, Sasuke didn't want to acknowledge his teammates even if in spars he would get his ass handed to him by Naruto who kept his level just above his. The experience was the key here, Naruto played dirty while Sasuke thought he was too good to do that.

Naruto made sure that Kakashi trained them properly especially Ino since she needed it the most. Else he would either spar with her from time to time or cook for her in the mornings. He finally made a friend his age. Even if Anko and Kurama teased him about her, he didn't have this type of feelings for her. His sisters only made bets for the amount of time he would need to develop them.

They began their training in the morning with some simple chakra control and light spars, then there was the power and cardio. Ino was thankful to Naruto for making her eat right or he would be dead by now. Checking herself out, he was right she didn't get fat or even bulky. Just her bones weren't sticking out like before.

The training ended and their missions would begin. They all hated the D-ranks but at least it gave them some pocket cash for just a few hours of labor. Right now, they were picking out weeds from a field when suddenly Naruto found a hatch. Thinking back, he knew where they were, it was one of Orochimaru's lairs.

Naruto ran fast to Kakashi making a clone so nobody enters it. Why has Hokage still not cleared all of them in case a civilian went inside. Kakashi sprinted to the Hokage with the news.

"Hokage-sama, urgent problem on my mission." Hiruzen would make a joke out of it but seeing the serious eye of Kakashi he restrained himself.

"What is it Kakashi?"

"Check the map of the Orochimaru's labs and our mission position." Kakashi said and Hokage's eyes became large as saucers. This lair was scheduled to be dismantled in a month, yet they approved of a mission there.

"Kakashi return you team immediately, make Naruto sets a perimeter, ANBU will come to clear things out. You can tell your team about it. Now go fast." Kakashi **Shunshinned **to his team as fast as he could.

"Everyone gather here, Naruto make a perimeter around the hatch with the clones. Now everybody listen and don't repeat anything to anybody. The place we are in is one of the greatest traitor's lab, Orochimaru's lab. He did unspeakable experiments down there to obtain great power. I'm telling you about it because the Hokage thinks you need to understand the dark side of the Shinobi world." Kakashi said.

Ino was shocked, if even Kakashi-sensei didn't want to go down there it had to be something horrible. In Sasuke's head a dark thought arose. If this Orochimaru had this power maybe he could help him kill his brother.

"Kakashi-sensei I have a question. It was Naruto who found the hatch. How did he know about it?" asked Ino. She has just proved that the Hokage was right to put her on this team. Maybe she wasn't strong enough yet but, her psychology and mind were sound.

"That's because I was the one to give the Hokage the intel about their locations. When I was little, I found the cleanest of them that served him as the library, and I used it as my hideout. I needed cash one time, so I traded the information for it with Ji-chan." Naruto answered the question. There was only one question, why would Naruto need a hideout? She didn't want to ask about it yet. Maybe her parents would give her some insight.

Later that day Ino came back from her team meeting, her father was already waiting for her thinking she would want to train, instead she just sat down on the sofa gathering her thoughts to ask the questions about her favorite sunny blonde. Didn't matter he was the only one in the village.

"Tou-chan can I ask you something?"

"Of course, dear."

"Naruto told us today that when he was little, he had a refuge in one of Orochimaru's labs since he was little. Why would he need it?" this question made Inoichi frown, it wasn't his story to tell but he would give her some hints about it.

"Ino-chan how does Naruto travel throughout the village?"

"He always uses the **Shunshin, **I rarely have seen him take a walk. But what's so strange about it most of the ninja do the same."

"Yes, most of the veterans when in a hurry, else they would juts use their legs like normal people. You see Naruto isn't the most liked person in the village. Some things… happened, when he was little, and he found himself in need of a place where he could remain hidden. I can't tell you anything more, it's not my story to tell. Maybe one day he will open up to you."

This only presented more questions. What did Naruto do for the village to hate him? What really happened to him? She couldn't ask anyway because they weren't friends for that long.

**Time skip 1 month**

They have just caught Tora the demon. The beast that scared every shinobi worse than the Kyuubi herself. Looking at it Ino could see why, Sasuke was just badly scratched on his face and have thrown the cat to Naruto.

Naruto forced it into submission with his killing intent. Ino was almost sure she has seen his eyes change color for a moment.

Speaking about Ino and Sasuke their relationship lessened to a point below zero. In the academy she thought he was cool and fought with Sakura for his heart. But now having him as a teammate showed her how much different he was. He was a megalomaniac who didn't acknowledge anyone not even their sensei. This view was only enforced by interacting with the cheerful Naruto.

They were going to the Hokage to give back the cat and get their last mission for today. Naruto was holding the cat and was petting it while it was still scared of him. He has seen Ino's gloomy face looking at him.

He poked her in the ribs making her gasp. And she poked him back. He would always do it when she had this gloomy face. It all started when she asked her father about Naruto. She wanted to find out anything and strolled asking people around what they thought about him. She remembered every answer as they were mostly one worded.

"Monster"

"Disgusting"

"Freak"

"Why is he still alive?"

Now Ino understood why he never walked in the village. She wouldn't be able to take it. What has made them hate him that much? She would ask him one day.

They continued the poking until they arrived before the Hokage. Kakashi said that the mission was accomplished, and they wanted another one until Sasuke barged in.

"Hokage-sama, I want something else. An Uchiha shouldn't have to do these menial tasks. I want to prove myself. I want a real mission." Hiruzen unlike the council didn't sugarcoat everything with the boy. He blasted his KI and said.

"Genin Uchiha are you giving orders to me?!"

"No Hokage-sama!" answered Sasuke thankful that his bladder was empty or else he would have a stain on his pants right now.

"Kakashi do you think you team is ready for a C-rank?"

"Don't worry, Hokage-sama. I think they are ready, and we can handle it." He said showing Naruto with his eye. Hiruzen understood what he meant by that. Having two ANBU captains on the team would make sure that the others lived.

"Bring Tazuna in!"

Inside came an old man reeking of booze and pure stink. "I asked you for ninjas not some kids and a one-eyed scarecrow. Especially this one who looks as if he's going to piss himself."

Sasuke gained a tick mark, Kakashi and Naruto just sighed at the man as Ino glared at him.

"Maa, maa. The kids here are plenty strong for a C-rank. At worst I'm a jonin so I will protect you" "_Naruto as well so no problem" _he added in his head.

"Your mission will begin in three days. Kakashi, Naruto stay for the moment please." Sasuke wanted to stay as well but his instincts told him not to.

"So how is it going with Sasuke?" he asked

"He shouldn't be a ninja if you ask me. He will kill himself or his teammates on the field if this continues." Said Naruto and Hiruzen sighed knowing that he couldn't do much without the council trying something. He was too old for this shit.

"What about you other blonde?"

"Thanks to Naruto she started eating and training as a true kunoichi. We train her both even if Naruto just spars with her and gives her pointers. She will become a good one if she continues that way." Said Kakashi

"Good, good. Now to the serious matter, our ANBU gave us intel about the true reason of this mission. It's not a C-rank but should be considered an A-rank. The truth is that Gato is ruling the country and hired some nukenins to kill the builder as well as building a fortress on a strategic point of the land. Ushi, Inu you are to go to wave country, it's an A-rank. You are going to destroy it and gather intel on Gato, we can't have him dead right now you will kill him on your mission with team 7. Dismissed"

**Evening**

Naruto and Kakashi made some clones to pose as themselves to not attract any suspicions from the team. Right now, they were just crossing the border to the Land of Wave in the direction of the fortress. They remembered their mission in Mizu but this time this was a simple one. There were only bandits instead of seasoned ninjas. Naruto didn't want to waste time and took out the big artillery.

Making Kakashi throw him into the air he did a mass of clones. They charged Yin in their fingers and shot lasers of Yin at the castle screaming "**Yin Bombardment"**. It was a six months ago that Naruto found a way to keep the Yin laser type of attack coalesced. He did it by making the weak point in the front thus when it hit, it made explosions of yin at the target.

Naruto landed in the now melting castle seeing all the goons dead all around either from the explosions or the burning effect of this attack. He still felt kind of bad seeing what he could do with human lives, but he remembered his first talk with Inoichi.

"Ushi that was under 15 seconds. I think you have just beaten your last record. Now let's hurry we don't have much time before our team goes on the mission."

They sprinted towards Gato's villa. It was Kakashi's time to shine since he was in the assassination and information department of ANBU. He positioned himself in the ceiling of Gato's office and started the recording. Soon Gato entered inside with Zabuza and a hunter-nin.

"Are you sure your subordinates will do the job?"

"Probably, if not I will welcome them myself." He said with a chuckle and quit the room.

"This idiot is so gullible, if he doesn't kill them the first time, I will send my army to kill him or the bridge builder escorts"

"_That should be enough, time to go back to the team and send the transcript to Hokage-sama"._

Naruto and Kakashi changed back into their normal clothesbecause they spent here too much time, they would meet their team on the road. They ran back in Konoha's direction. Until they spotted their team with their clones.

Their clones sensed them as well as the shinobi waiting for them inside the puddle on the road. It was a perfect opportunity for them switch as well as see their team reactions. Soon two ninjas came out of the puddle and killed the clones who popped.

Ino has changed from her academy time, she thought they used **Kawarimi **to evade the chains. She took out threw kunais at them, but they evaded them. She took one another taking a proper stance to defend herself and the client. Sasuke was trying to show off by running straight at them but before he could the ninja were already dead.

Naruto and Kakashi jumped from the tree catching the weapons Ino has thrown. Naruto planted his in one in one of their spines and turned it killing him in an instant. Kakashi kicked the other one and put him on the ground. Next, he took the kunai and pinned his hands to the ground with it.

"Good job Ino, you realized we used **Kawarimi** and didn't hesitate to attack while still defending the client. You Sasuke should've done the same, you didn't know what they could do. Remember the patient ninja is the living ninja." Kakashi lied to which Ino smiled and Sasuke replied with a huff. How was he supposed to prove himself to be an elite?

"Now let's ask our prisoner a few questions. Why are you targeting our group? You know fully well that we can do it the hard or the soft way. Your choice." Meizu looked at his dead brother and gulped. The kid killed him without a moment of thinking, he would probably share the same fate. At least he could do it without any pain.

"We were hired by Gato to kill the bridge builder. He's a thorn in his side and wants to eliminate him. Please grant me a swift death." Meizu said. Kakashi already knew that from before but he needed a way to expose Tazuna before it could kill his team. He complied with the request shoving a **Chidori **in his chest**.**

Ino was shocked seeing that but steeled her nerves. Naruto told her many times how the outside world worked.

"Now Tazuna care to tell us why you only asked for a C-rank?" Kakashi asked with Tazuna presenting him the situation of the country and how poor they were. Kakashi was sure they could follow the mission at worst Naruto would have to show his real powers.

"You know you could have talked with the Hokage about the situation. It's on the back of the form you were supposed to deliver that in this type of circumstances you can ask for delayed or some other form of payment?" said Naruto

"Naruto who would you take as a back up in this case if you could take anyone in the village?" Naruto thought for a second and replied.

"Seeing that they were the Demon Brothers working with Zabuza our safest bet would be Yugao-nee but she's on a mission. From the genin teams I would say Asuma-sensei and team ten. They offer a good fire power with Choji and tactic mind with Shikamaru and of course a close quarters fighter in Asuma-sensei." He said forgetting completely about Sakura. Well she could be a meat shield.

"Team ten it is then; Naruto make a clone to inform the Hokage. Let's continue for now." Naruto made a clone that sprinted. When it was far enough it coated itself in Yang making it sprint at astounding speeds.

Later that same day the team crossed the Land of Waves border with someone on a boat with the engine turned off. The navigator told them to hurry with the bridge or else they would all die of hunger making Naruto have a flashback to his youth.

Around 3km off the cost Naruto felt the next opponents watching them, it had to be Zabuza. Soon a massive blade flew through the air almost decapitating everyone if they haven't hit the ground with Kakashi taking Tazuna.

"My, my the bridge builder hired some brats to escort him. Not a smart choice old man. Those snoot nosed kids won't save you." He looked at the team seeing Kakashi and then Naruto "The copycat is here, though I sense that the blonde kid is different, he reeks of death. How may have you killed? A hundred? A thousand? More?" Zabuza asked making the team widen their eyes. Naruto was supposed to be a genin for only a bit more than them. How could he have killed so many already?

"Team Manji formation around Tazuna I will fight Zabuza. Naruto if something bad happens you are in command." Seeing his true genins get pale he told them "Don't worry I will protect you" and lifted his headband showing a Sharingan.

"I get to see it from the start, I'm honored. But how are you going to protect them if you can't see? **Kirigakure no Jutsu!**" Naruto, seeing the mist getting denser, concentrated on his Negative Emotion Sensing.

"So many places to strike and kill, liver, lungs, spine, subclavian vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys and heart. What will it be?" said a voice appearing to be everywhere.

"Kakashi-sensei at nine, high!" Screamed Naruto using his sensing ability to guide Kakashi, truthfully, he would be much better opponent for Zabuza.

Kakashi blocked the strike and answered with his own proving that he just hit a water clone. This game continued for a few minutes until Zabuza gave up on this plan. He needed to eliminate Naruto if he wanted to have a chance to kill Kakashi.

Zabuza used his superior speed to kick Sasuke out of the way preparing to strike Naruto. The only thing that saved him were his sensory abilities. He let Sasuke get kicked out of the way to block Zabuza's sword with his own. That shit was heavy especially since he couldn't use Yang.

Kakashi wanted to help Naruto before his hand was forced. Because of that he ran straight to him until he knew he fucked up entering a body of water. The real Zabuza was waiting for this moment of hesitation and closed Kakashi in **Suiro no Jutsu. **

Naruto killed the offending clone and used **Futon: Daitoppa **to disperse the mist. Seeing Kakashi closed in the ball of water he thought it was too late. He would have to show off his true skills if a miracle didn't happen in the next few seconds. It happened when two kunais flew through the air in the direction of Zabuza.

The back up was here, Asuma, Choji and Shikamaru were here. Sakura came in ten seconds later completely winded "Guys wait for me!" she screamed. Naruto managed to make a plan on his feet considering the new arrivals.

"Asuma-sensei I will need your help. I have a plan to liberate Kakashi-sensei, but I need your team to help me." Asuma nodded believing in Naruto's quick thinking

"Shikamaru, Choji, Ino eliminate the clones blocking the path. Asuma-sensei assist me." They all nodded and did their part. Shikamaru bound them with **Kagemane no Jutsu**, then Choji charged in with his **Nikudan Sensha**, at last Ino threw kunais at the clones at the perfect moment to force them to block them not giving them time to block Choji. Naruto was really happy about the progress of his fellow blonde.

They cleared the path and Naruto and Asuma ran behind Choji with their weapons drawn. Every step Naruto used a small amount of Yang to make explosions under his feet gaining more and more speed at last he used a bigger amount to jump over Choji straight at Zabuza. He used an overhead slash that Zabuza blocked. This gave an opening for Asuma to slash Zabuza's side who had to cancel the jutsu in pain.

Naruto landed on the water sprinting even faster showing some of his skills. He wanted to finish Zabuza, but he was downed by senbons just before his slash.

The hunter-nin from before came next to Zabuza "Thank you for helping me catch him Konoha's ninja. I will take the body to dispose of it." He said and **Shunshinned**.

Naruto took Kakashi on his back who had a chakra exhaustion from his overuse of Sharingan and went back to the group. "Thanks guys without you we would've been dead" he said. Asuma knew it wasn't true, but he couldn't say it. He has seen that Sasuke was just getting up from the kick Zabuza gave him before.

Sakura sprinted to him "Wow Sasuke you were so cool freeing your sensei from that ninja!" she screamed. He didn't understand but it didn't stop him from accepting the praise. Everyone else was looking at her with strange looks.

"Is she hallucinating from exhaustion? Did you make her run too fast? He didn't do anything in the fight." asked Ino. A few seconds later Sakura collapsed on the ground.

"Yes, she was probably hallucinating" answered everyone else.

"Tazuna how far away to your house, we have one downed sensei and a ballast to put in bed." Asked Asuma making everyone snicker knowing who the dead weight was.

"It's about 20km we should be there in a few hours."

"We don't have enough time. Naruto make a clone to carry Tazuna. Sasuke you take Sakura. We are going to run." Sasuke wanted to protest but remembered what happened the last time he spoke down to his superior in rank.

20 minutes later they were at a small house. Tazuna got off Naruto still shaking from the rollercoaster of his life and knocked on the door. A woman around 30 years old opened the door holding a knife in case.

"Tou-san you are back safe, are those the ninjas who protected you?"

"Yes, you should have seen it how the blonde and his sensei worked together. After that he took control of the situation. Most of these kids are hella strong." He said looking at everybody without Sasuke and Sakura. Next, he did some swooshing blade sounds reminiscing the battle making everybody sweat drop at the childishness of the old man. "Now, we need a bed, the grey haired one needs some rest as well as the other one."

"Thank you everyone, now please come in, come in!" she rushed them inside.

_**End chapter 3**_

**AN: I tried to put in some Sasuke and Sakura "bashing", not as a "Sasuke bad, Naruto good" but more as a comedic relief. I hope it went that way. Thanks for reading and see you next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, I wouldn't have to go through college. Every character belongs to Kishimoto unless they are my own OCs.

"Talk"

"_Thoughts"_

"**Bijuu, summons"**

**Jutsu**

**AN: Hey, it's me once again. I know my ff is not the most original of them all. I don't trust myself enough to make a whole new story for Naruto with my skills yet. That's why I mostly follow canon and add my own flair to it.**

"Thank you everyone, now please come in, come in!" she rushed them inside.

"Miss?" asked Asuma

"Tsunami" she answered cheerfully

"Tsunami-san where can we put those two? And why were you holding a knife when we came here?"

"You can put them upstairs there are beds there." Naruto went to set Kakashi there and Sasuke didn't have enough patience, so he just dropped unceremoniously his baggage on the floor. "As for the knife, you see since Gato occupied the land he would send his thugs to extort us and kidnap the women and children. It was for protection just in case."

"I see" Asuma said trying to light a cigarette. Before he knew, it was already cut and on the floor. "If you want to smoke please go outside." Tsunami said.

Meanwhile Naruto has just put Kakashi in bed. "Kakashi, Zabuza will come back, I couldn't react with everyone watching but that was the hunter-nin you saw before."

"Tough luck, call Asuma we have to talk about it." Naruto did as told and brought Asuma to the room.

"Asuma you know who we are. Before this mission we were sent here to get some intel on Gato. Zabuza isn't dead, the hunter-nin was his accomplice."

"We need to find a way to prepare for his comeback. We should train the teams before he comes back."

"I will stop you here Asuma. We may have a way to evade all of the fighting against him. We have the recording of Gato saying that he won't pay Zabuza. We may talk him out of it. Train the genins though, he plans on sending his army against us. If it was only us it would be easy with Naruto but since the others are here, he can at most use 10% of his abilities before it would raise suspicion." Said Kakashi and Naruto nodded true to it.

"Naruto are you going to talk to Zabuza since you had your clone follow them?" asked Asuma. So, he has seen that in all this chaos? He wasn't a jonin and one of the Fire Guardians for nothing.

"Yes, I will leave right now, just let me change into my ANBU gear." Naruto did a clone and started changing. When he was ready, he **Shunshinned **away.

"It always amazes me how this kid can go from the cheerful genin to ANBU in seconds." Commented Kakashi.

Naruto has just entered the cave where Zabuza and the hunter-nin lived. Gato just left with a broken arm. He dropped to the ground and pushed the door. The hunter-nin wanted to attack him but Naruto blocked the fist.

"Calm down please I'm here to talk to you master." Naruto turned to see Zabuza "But I think you should see that first." Naruto showed him the recording from the room with Gato wanting to double cross him.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Simple, go back to Kiri since they finally ended the rebellion and a new Mizukage was appointed."

"I can't I'm still a missing-nin they will kill me on sight!" Zabuza screamed

"I don't think they will, for a price I can cash in a favor with the Mizukage to let you come back safely."

"And what such an ANBU brat would have done with the Mizukage to earn a favor?"

"I don't know, you tell me." Naruto said igniting Yang in his body making golden flames appear here and there. Zabuza's couldn't believe who was before him. He knew that he has seen this mask somewhere but now he knew where.

"You are the Golden Demon! The juvenile ANBU who destroyed holds as if it was nothing with almost no help thus making the rebels win. What this favor would cost me now?"

"Simple don't attack us and help us repel Gato's army." Naruto said taking off his mask. Zabuza was shocked, he knew the kid before was holding back but this was some outer space shit.

"You are that brat from before! What? How? Why?" the Demon of the Mist almost stuttered seeing the whiskered face

"Kakashi and I have to pose as normal shinobi to babysit the Uchiha on our team because he's mentally unstable. That's why."

"Then you don't need me to repel that army, you could destroy it in seconds."

"Because there are kids here, I am a genin now, I can use at most 10% of my skills without causing suspicion and the Uchiha to go insane seeing how far away he is from his goal. Me fighting you before was already pushing it but in the chaos nobody checked. As to your question of how many I have killed, let's just say that what I will kill in the fight will be only a drop in the ocean."

"You got yourself a deal Gaki. You will pardon me of not being able to shake your hand. Haku do it for me please." The now named Haku came to Naruto and shook his hand.

"Now that you don't feel cheated, I will send the message to the Mizukage from here." Naruto has written something on a scroll and gave it to his clone who used Yang to shoot off in the distance. "I will come back when the reply comes back. See ya." Naruto ran out as well.

He entered through the window of Kakashi's room and exchanged with his clone.

"How has it gone Naruto?" asked the downed jonin

"Great, we have an ally for the battle, I traded my favor with the Mizukage for it"

"Good job, now go back to the others they should be eating right now."

Naruto came down and true to Kakashi's words everybody was talking and eating barred Sakura and Sasuke. Well Sakura did try to talk only for Sasuke to huff and growl. Ino didn't know how she could have a crush on this guy.

"Naruto-san does Kakashi-sensei like the food? We can't afford much."

"He said that it was lovely Tsunami-san, now can I have my part please" Naruto dug in his meal and it really was good. He couldn't fathom how she transformed simple cabbage and potatoes into these delights. He gave a signal to Asuma to go see Kakashi upstairs. When Asuma did, Kakashi gave him all the information about the near future. They decided to train the newer generation for the fight and give them half a lie.

"We have bad news everybody so listen closely" Asuma said carrying Kakashi on his back to put him on the couch. "The Hokage decided to send some ANBU operators to scout out the mission for the future. But first, Zabuza is alive, Naruto gave us this idea when he told us about the senbon the hunter-nin used. He was probably an accomplice. Second the ANBU found out that when Zabuza would attack once again Gato would double cross him sending his over 300 men army. The good news is that the operators struck a deal with Zabuza to not fight us and help us during the raid. We don't expect you to rush into the battle, but we will train you hard for the next two weeks in case some thugs slip through us."

He couldn't tell them that the two operators were in the room with them.

The genins were scared, it would be their first battle and it would happen at such a size. Ino was shivering a bit so Naruto took her hand and offered her a reassuring smile. Sasuke was looking at it as a chance to prove himself, it wouldn't be as great as killing an A-rank nukenin, but he would settle for it.

Asuma seeing the youth compose themselves continued "Shikamaru it will be your first time working a plan. Every day you will go to the place where the battle will happen and work every possible way to give us an advantage. That's all, eat well because we will begin the training in a few hours"

"Troublesome" said Shikamaru but his brain was already going at 200kmh taking into account all of his comrades known skills and gear.

"I don't understand why you are going to do it; you are just going to die" said a young boy who ran upstairs. Tsunami shook her head at the sight.

"I'm sorry about it. It's my son, Inari. He's going through a tough phase right now. Please forgive him" she said with an apologetic look. Nobody cared about what the brat said, they had a country to save.

A few hours later the genins were brought to different locations. Ino, Shikamaru, Choji and Naruto went to the beach to practice water walking with Asuma while Sasuke and Sakura went tree walking. Sasuke didn't want to learn it earlier only wanting jutsus to get stronger. Sakura on the other side didn't have enough chakra to stay on water so she had to build up her reserves.

Ino looked at the three boys near the body of water. She didn't know why Naruto was here since she has seen him already walk on water during the fight. Shikamaru and Choji were sharing the thoughts until Shikamaru asked.

"Naruto why are you with us? We have seen you already walking on water?"

"I'm here for Asuma-sensei. He's the only jonin that I know of to have the wind chakra like myself. He's going to help me begin a project of mine. I will give you a hint guys, take off your shirts. Second don't think of it as tree walking it's totally different. Instead of thinking about sticking to the surface you have to imagine walking on stilts."

"Troublesome" Shikamaru said while taking off his top and Choji doing the same. Ino wasn't going to do it with only guys around. She was disappointed that Naruto didn't do the same. She wanted to check what he looked like under his shirt and judging by his arms he already had growing muscles.

Meanwhile Naruto was talking with Asuma "You see I'm asking myself if by adding more chakra to the **Hien no Jutsu **I would be able to shoot it out of the blade."

"I don't think it can be done by adding more chakra… You would have to force it to stay together until the point of hitting the target. I would try in your case to make a thin hole in the water and hold it as long as you can. Maybe you can find something from it. Now off you go."

Naruto calmly strolled on the water until it was deep enough for him to start trying what Asuma told him. He knew it was going to be difficult, so he started slow by making the hole large and blunt at the end. Not really usable in fighting but it was a starting point. From now on he wanted to keep it open for at least ten seconds.

Three hours later he was at the ninth second when two hands caught his ankles from under the water and made him sink in. It was Ino who was fuming for not being able to stay on the water for more than ten seconds without losing balance. She was unnerved by the sight of Naruto calmly slav squatting on it mocking them in the process.

Naruto had a begrudging look on his face as if he was scolding a child without being angry. "Seriously Ino? I was so close to succeeding." He took of his hairband off letting his wet locks flow. Ino was looking at him a bit too closely.

"You look good that way Naruto. Why don't you let your hair be free?" He was really good looking with his hair loose, the water only accentuating the shine of it in the setting sunlight

"I always keep them that way at home. They just get in the way while fighting that's why I always tie them in the ponytail." He gained a naughty smirk. He took off Ino's hairband as well making her hair go loose.

"You are the one to talk Ino, you look good yourself without the ponytail. Well you look good with both." He said making the girl get a healthy pink color on her cheeks.

Asuma smirked looking at the scene, he was so winning the bets right now. It wasn't the time for that though "Okay you love-birds go back to training" he said making Ino even redder and Naruto have the same color she had before.

At the end Ino was looking at Naruto who had fallen a few times into the water by making the gap too wide and sinking in. The clothes were hugging him tightly proving her theory about his developing frame. Little did she know that Naruto was looking at her as well since she was drenched. It was one of the perks of having ANBU background that he was stealthy about it.

"Naruto-kun aren't you a shy one. Shika and Choji have already lost their t-shirts long ago. You are the only guy with his clothes still wet and on him." Ino said poking him in the ribs.

"Yeah you could say that." He replied being conscious about the scar on his torso. How many years it would take for it to disappear at least physically? He wasn't going to lose though so he poked her back. This game of poking went until the end of dinner when Tsunami announced the rooms.

"I'm sorry we don't have enough rooms for all of you since Kakashi-san is resting in his own."

"Don't worry about it, Tsunami-san. I will set a tent in the garden. That way I will set the watch." said Naruto. He was already used to sleeping outside from his younger days and his ANBU career. "I will take the shower first then, be polite to each other." He said in a mocking manner imitating the adults.

The night has fallen, and Naruto couldn't sleep remembering the night when he was four. It was so long ago yet he still had nightmares about it. He mocked himself, what kind of S-rank demolition ANBU would have nightmares.

Ino couldn't sleep remembering the face Naruto made when she teased him earlier. He was alone now; it was her chance to at least begin the conversation. She quit the room hearing Sakura talking about her "Sasuke-kun" in her sleep. How far has her friend fallen? Walking to the front she saw Naruto sitting on the roof. She climbed up and sat next to him.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked after a few minutes of silence

"No" he whispered. Where was gone the cheerful blonde she knew?

"You know Naruto-kun you are a huge enigma to me. We never talked in the academy, yet you helped me from the start. Thank you" she said closing the space between them.

"You don't have to thank me." He said letting her continue

"You see when we were on the mission and we found the lab I began asking questions. I went around asking what the people thought about you and I guess you know the answers already. Then Zabuza asked how many people you have killed. Who are you Naruto-kun?"

"I don't want to talk about it. I'm not ready yet."

"Don't worry, I won't pry, just know that I'm here for you whenever you feel ready" she got so close to him that they were delicately touching.

"Thank you. Ino-chan can I ask you a favor?" he finally added chan to her name, it was a big progress in her eyes.

"Of course, Naruto-kun."

"Can you stay like that with me for a bit?" He didn't get a verbal answer, she only laid her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Ino-chan" he whispered

"Dummy you don't have to thank me" she whispered back.

Next morning, they woke up in the same place, in the same position. The only difference was that now they had an audience looking at them with a camera. It was Asuma holding back his giggles. He could already feel the smell of ryo when he came back with this photo as proof.

The duo groaned knowing it was already too late to negotiate. They got up preparing themselves for the day. Inside Kakashi, Asuma, Tsunami and Tazuna showed them the knowing smiles. Tazuna couldn't keep it and fired.

"How was your night everyone?" to everybody else it was the normal process of the host greeting his guests, to the knowing party it was a huge joke. The adults burst out laughing leaving the kids question their sanity.

The genins were once again sent to the field. No one could escape the training even Kakashi who's regeneration was sped up by Naruto only enough to let him walk without crutches. Gradually it would let him fight at least two days earlier than normally.

Shikamaru and Choji went with the bridge builder as his protection detail. Shikamaru began his tour of the bridge, checking the plans and asking Tazuna about his stocks. He looked everywhere, every nook and cranny could make their chances of survival go up.

He went back to his post next to Choji and started scribbling over one of the plans they've given to him. That was the first time something was and wasn't troublesome at the same time for him. Fighting wasn't his specialty, he wanted to evade it at all cost. His ability to forge a plan for the battle would give him this possibility. It was always better to find with the brain than with the brawns in his family.

Choji was calmly eating chips, getting bored because of the calm. He didn't know yet how much he would miss this calm in a few days. Seeing his partner finish scribbling he found finally a way to get his boredom gone.

"Good job Shikamaru. You must be having fun you didn't say troublesome for at least an hour now."

"Fun? No. This kind of work pleases me. I just have to find a way to make sure that we survive even if we fail to defend on the bridge. This suits me, I just have to use my brain, it's tiring but still better than fighting. Hey what do you think of Naruto?"

"Naruto? He seems like an okay guy to me. I still remember him setting ways for us to escape from class. I still don't know how he did it though."

"That's not what I meant. Two days ago, while fighting, didn't you feel like he was suddenly too good?"

"He was in an apprenticeship, wasn't he? When we were in academy Kurenai-sensei was already training him in the real stuff."

"Maybe" Shikamaru said not believing it one moment. Now though he would set himself on one of the posts to cloud watch. He needed the rest for the training this afternoon

Meanwhile Naruto was assuming again his slav squatting position and tried to make the hole stable and at least pointy in the water. Ino was walking next to him as if she was a newborn horse with water going up to her ankles. She was asking herself what Naruto was hiding under his shirt because she was sure it wasn't his chest.

"Wait for a second Ino-chan, you can throw me in the water in a moment, I just think I made a breakthrough" he couldn't keep the hole stable in size. He could keep it open, but it would be blunt and fluctuate. His idea was different though to the normal one though.

Normally when using wind chakra, you would imagine two strands of wind rubbing against each other always perpendicular to the blade you wanted to coat. This way it gave you an edge that didn't dissipate, it was the definition of the first stage of **Hien no Jutsu**.

This time making the wind go perpendicular to the water made the turbulent chakra at the end of the edge make the hole round and fluctuating. If he tried to send **Hien** that way, the blade would catch the vortices and it would disintegrate.

He thought over it for a long time asking himself how to eliminate the vortex created but he came to a simple answer, he couldn't. This meant only one thing, he would have to take the turbulences out of the water. Thus, he started experimenting in different ways for the wind chakra to go. His new experiment was to make two streams in a rounded shape go parallel to the water. This way the edge wouldn't be made by rubbing but by the angle and distance between the streams.

He concentrated and began his experiment. Slowly but surely, he pumped more and more chakra until the water was spread apart. It finally made an edge. An edge that resembled that of a fifty-year-old axe, jagged and worn but it was still an edge. He completely forgot about Ino behind and stopped the chakra.

It was the moment to attack, Ino pushed him only a little since he was already crouched. It didn't have to be much to tilt him and fall into the water. Ino began laughing at him until he decided to take revenge by pulling her in with him. They started laughing together. On the shore Asuma was laughing as well because the others would have to pay up.

**Time skip 2 days**

Naruto was talking with Asuma and Kakashi when his clone came back with an answer from Mizukage. They read it together and had to become pokerfaced if they didn't want to start rolling on the floor. Zabuza had quite an ordeal out of it.

"Kakashi I will go inform Zabuza and heal him. We are going to need all the help we can get." He made once again his clone to not arise any more suspicion since he already was talking with Asuma and Kakashi a bit too often for some of the other genin tastes. Namely Ino and Shikamaru.

He sprinted to the cave and knocked on the door. This time he wasn't going to enter as if he owned the place. There were ninja inside.

"Yo, Zabuza, Haku. I have some good news for you. Here take the letter."

He started reading "Your status as nukenin is revoked as of now, you are to return after completing you first mission as a jonin of Kiri, bla bla bla, PS. I'm waiting for you Zabu-kun. Signed Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumi!?" on the bottom there was an imprint of her lips with a heavy amount of pink lipstick.

"Mei-chan has become the fifth?!"

"Mei-chan?" asked a puzzled Haku

"Long story short we dated before the coup; I didn't know she led the rebellion. I still remember when we were kids, she was strong, but this is new. She's going to chew my ass so hard for not coming to see her." Zabuza started shivering. This was new as well, a hardened assassin was shivering.

"You have your news and since she accepted let's get you out of bed to get the rust out of your joints." Naruto ignited the Yang in is hand. Zabuza was scared of what he would do but the warm feeling of the flame healing him made him comfortable.

Zabuza jumped out of the bed making all kind of moves he wasn't able in the bed. "Hahahah who would've thought that my ex-enemy would heal me now. Come on let's go kill Gato!"

"Sorry Zabuza, we can't for now. We need him alive to get all of his bank accounts and his slave trading routes. That's the second ANBU mission I have. Now go training I will contact you next Friday to explain the plans, a Nara is making them. See you later." He walked away waving to the duo.

Naruto went back to Kakashi and Asuma giving a short report and prepared for training. He was so much closer to developing the new technique that he was too giddy to not continue. He missed this rush since he started training with the clones that sped up the training.

Later that evening Naruto was close to making the edge finer still that of an axe but a sharpened one at least. That was a huge progress. Ino came to him finally standing normally on water.

"How's it going?"

"Surprisingly good. You are finally walking on water good job." He told her but she shook her head

"It's not the time to self-congratulate, I have still a long way. I did it before the others because my chakra reserves are smaller. I need to train more." The drive this girl had was astounding, she took what Naruto said during his introduction to heart and became better two steps at the time. "We are going home now, the dinner should be ready in about 20 minutes"

"I will stay longer, I want to perfect this step, it shouldn't take long now" she nodded and skipped on the water to Tazuna's house. Sensing no one nearby Naruto could finally do what he wanted, go full out. He pumped a great amount of chakra making the hole at least 25 meters long. This has let him see the shortcomings in the edge much easier since it gave him a zoom like option.

After the sixth try he fell into water. He took of his hair band off slicking his hair to the back of his head with a hand. "That should be enough for today." He got out and made his way to the house. Outside there was already a towel waiting for him.

Drying himself he entered inside. Everybody even Sakura and Sasuke were around the table. Shikamaru seeing the blonde arrive took out the drafts for the bridge with his notes over it.

"Naruto come here, I found something that may let us live if something happens. Tazuna said he has enough materials to build at least fifty more meters of the bridge. Now look here, the bridge is sturdy" this put a proud smile over Tazuna's face then he lost it when Shikamaru continued "Too sturdy for my likings. The pillars don't have any weak points, they would take a considerable amount of damage before collapsing. Tazuna I will need to ask you to weaken the last two pillars for me. That way if anything happens, we can destroy the last twenty meters of the bridge cutting the goons off." Everybody was nodding, this would give them an escape plan to regroup if needed and attack once again.

"Count it done son, we can rebuild the bridge, but we won't be able to do it if you guys get yourself killed" Tazuna said counting in his head the best place to weaken the columns without it falling on itself.

Soon Inari opened his big mouth to give another rant "Why are you trying so hard? Why are you trying to be heroes? You are just going to die!"

Naruto directed his eyes at him and calmly said "We aren't heroes brat. We are shinobi, we kill, we steal, we deceive for a living. The only difference between us and Gato is that we do it for a good cause."

"Shut up, you don't know Gato, what pain has he caused to everyone. You don't know pain, you live inside safe walls sheltered from every bad thing in your life." Soon the room became cold and heavy.

"Hey kid I'm gonna show you something. Asuma-sensei give me your lighter please." Inari wanted to run but the cheerful, yet cold voice of Naruto made him stay. Naruto lit the lighter and put it against his skin for a good thirty seconds. His hand was charred and he didn't even flinch. Thirty seconds later there was nothing no scar, no red skin.

"What do you see?" he commanded him to answer still having this cold voice and the deranging smile on his face

"Nothing" he gulped fearing for his life now. The guy before him was insane. Everyone else was looking at Naruto. Kakashi, Shikamaru and Asuma were already preparing jutsus to stop Naruto just in case. Naruto took the borders of his shirt and started lifting it up. Ino would be happy seeing that but the situation wasn't letting her.

Soon the ugly scar on his torso has showed, still as jagged as all those years ago. Ino looked at it, this was what he was hiding all this time "I got this scar when I was younger than you as birthday gift. What do you think would need to happen to give me this thing if the burn you have seen before healed leaving nothing?"

"I don't know."

"I'm a monster to my village so on my fourth birthday some sicko decided to see if I was human inside, he opened me up with a broken bottle and looked inside for so long that I was losing my humanity out there. And this isn't the only thing, I was living on the streets and every day I was asking myself if today would be the last to the point where I was contemplating suicide at six." The people inside were shocked learning his life story. Ino was getting some of the answers she wanted for so long, she would've preferred if she never asked those questions.

"And you know what? I'm not the only one with fucked up past in here. Sasuke had his own clan killed in one night by his own brother. Can you imagine that? Seeing your grandfather kill your mother. Then there is Kakashi-sensei who was enrolled into the shinobi program at six to fight in the war. When you were playing with toys he was killing for his country. So, tell me if we don't know pain." He was left without an answer.

Kakashi was thankful that he didn't mention his dad suicide. Sasuke was feeling a bit for the blonde. Ino was on the verge of crying and Tazuna stopped drinking.

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm going out before you have to use those jutsus you prepared under the table. Bye." He left slamming the door.

"Kakashi-san, why would someone say that Naruto was a monster? Was what he told true?"

"Naruto is a special case, a fate was put onto him at birth that made all the village despise him, if you ask anyone for him, they will only call him things like monster or ask why he wasn't killed yet. I'm sorry but I can't tell you more."

Ino left the table in the direction of the door Asuma tried to stop her going after him to no avail.

"He needs someone, he may be showing a brave face but he's hurting inside. I'm going to see him."

Ino followed his trail that he didn't even try to mask as if wanted to be caught. She went after him to one part of the woods where she has seen him with his sword in hand.

He opened his eyes and cried "**Sixth stance: Grass cutter**" it was like an instantaneous **Hien **that was so long that it was going out in only a few seconds. Soon he did a Horizontal slash cutting the trees around him. He continued the slash until he has seen Ino in the way stopping the attack.

"Ino-chan what are you doing here?"

"You didn't tell us not to follow you, and you didn't cover your tracks making it seem like you wanted to be found." Did he really do that? Maybe his subconscious was giving him a hint. He sat down in the clearing he made and Ino sat down next to him.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Yes"

"Go on, I will listen." They were so calm it was almost as if nothing happened before.

"You remember the other night you told me about what the villagers thought about me. Want to know why?" she nodded her head

"When I was born, it was the day of the Kyuubi attack. They tell us in the academy how the Yondaime killed the beast. He didn't, he sealed it in a newborn infant. It was my lucky day because I was a perfect choice." He chuckled trying to make a bad joke out of it.

"I have the Kyuubi inside of me, that's why I'm a monster to the villagers, a bad omen and memory for them. You must be feeling the same right?" he was already used to people making a 180 turn when they learned about it. Instead she put her arms around him making him know she didn't. Finally, someone his age accepted him.

"Thank you Ino-chan"

"Dummy I already told you not to thank me. You aren't a monster in my eyes, you are this big goofy teddy bear of a teammate and friend of mine."

"Ino-chan, I think you have the right to know more about me and yourself now." About herself?

"You see because of another incident, someone bomb trapped my flat, I gained the powers of my tenant. I was too strong, and it was true that I had an apprenticeship but only for six months, then the Hokage and my teachers decided to put me into ANBU. At nine I was already in the demolition department." He showed her his tattoo. If she didn't see what he did earlier, she wouldn't believe him.

"Then why are you on this team as a genin?"

"I was coming to this, Ji-chan wanted me and Kakashi to babysit Sasuke because he is too unstable to be a ninja. This entire team was made to contain him if he went to the dark side. You as a Yamanka were a perfect candidate to judge his mental status."

"Then why did you start helping me? I wasn't your friend or anything."

"At first it was a favor your father asked me. He was my psychiatrist in the ANBU. After all it wasn't a good idea to let a nine-year-old kill so many and not give him mental support. But then you showed that you wanted to prove yourself then I just kept doing it of my own will. Anko-nee isn't calling you a brat anymore you know?" He laughed at it.

"Thank you for telling it to me"

"Now you are the dummy, I told you the same before. Now go back to the house I will cool down here."

"No, I will stay with you."

"Thank you"

"Dummy teddy bear" she said, and Naruto reciprocated the light hug she was giving him.

Next morning, they woke up lying on the floor hugging each other with Ino being particularly strong with her hold.

"You really are a teddy bear, you know Naruto-kun. Your body is so hot all the time it was like a warm blanket."

"Good morning to you too Ino-chan."

Their waking ups were stopped by a cough just beside them. Haku was staring at them with a smirk.

"Aren't you a ladies man Naruto, already taking them to the forest to sleep together." She said making the duet blush like tomatoes.

"Not funny Haku. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just picking some herbs to make poison for the battle."

"Naruto-kun who is she?" asked Ino not exactly knowing what was going on.

"You remember the hunter-nin that took Zabuza? It's her. You remember when Kakashi and Asuma told us about operators who have struck a deal. Well that was me." He explained her "We should go now. I can already feel the smirks of the adults on my back. Bye Haku, till Friday." He waved to her as she continued picking up herbs.

Coming back, it wasn't only the adults but Shikamaru and Choji as well who had trouble holding their laughs in. What was so funny at trying to have a male-female relationship? Whatever since he told Ino the truth about her mission in Team 7 he needed to inform Kakashi.

He took his plate and started eating feeling the stares from everyone. Only Sasuke and Sakura were doing something else. Namely Sasuke was imagining his brother missing a limb begging Sasuke for mercy while Sakura was pestering Sasuke.

"Come on guys let it out, the longer you stare the longer we're going to be in here." Naruto lamented. Asuma was the first one to ask.

"So, what happened between you guys yesterday? You haven't come back this night." This had two goals. The first one was to embarrass the teens. The second one was to know how much money he would get because there were secondary bets on this couple. Like when they would kiss or start dating.

"Nothing, well nothing serious. Ino helped me calm down yesterday and we hugged till we fell asleep. Happy now?" Ino was blushing at the declaration of what happened yesterday. They only shared a hug. Yes, just a friendly hug.

Naruto meanwhile was tapping his fingers in irritation. The truth was far from it, he used the ANBU/Jonin Morse code which said "Ino. Knows. Told. Her. Kyuubi. ANBU. Team. 7. Talk. 10. Minutes.". Asuma and Kakashi understood and finished eating fast. Asuma asked if anyone wanted to smoke with him making a diversion. Kakashi and Naruto went with him.

Shikamaru was the only one to not cast this event aside as a simple way of relaxing after yesterday's ordeal. It only assured him that Naruto and the jonins were hiding something. Ino was probably involved somehow. He hated this head of his for thinking about it against his will. Now that he was closer to the answers, he wouldn't stop midway.

Outside Asuma, Kakashi and Naruto were talking quietly while smoking. It appeared that Kakashi had a small hole in his mask just large enough to put the cigarette in his mouth. He would need to clean it though or else it would stink too hard for his tastes.

"We understood that you told Ino about your identity and her role in the team. Care to tell us why?" Kakashi said while coughing on the smoke.

"Simple, she saw me using the **Sixth Stance **as well as my eyes. She has gotten strong enough to handle the truth about her role, the truth about 13 years ago was just a bonus." He answered exhaling the smoke. He didn't know how people liked doing it, it tasted like ash.

"If you trust her enough that won't be a problem, but since she knows, we need to train her harder, not like a normal genin but as someone who can be useful in the least to seasoned ANBU." Said Kakashi.

"There is another problem. I think Shikamaru is getting a gist of what is truly happening. What should we do about him" said Asuma tasting his premium smokes, ah the perks of being a high ranked shinobi. Civilians and lower ranks would have to pay a fortune to get their hands on this stuff.

"He's smart, too smart for his own good I would say. Let him sniff around for the moment, if he comes close to the answer, we will have to include him to make sure that he knows not to talk. Just in case up his training as well." Naruto said putting out his cigarette.

They went back inside with Naruto getting chewed out by Ino for stinking and made him go wash his teeth at least five times as well as change his clothes. She knew that in the future her boyfriend would be banned from doing it if she got one. While thinking of a future boyfriend a certain blonde popped into her head. She shook it off, it wasn't the time for that.

"Okay everyone get your asses into gear let's go and train, today Kakashi and I are going to protect Tazuna. You are free to train however you want and come to us if you need some guidance." This was made to let Naruto train Ino.

"Come on Ino-chan, let's go together." Said Naruto grabbing her hand and running off to the woods

"Are we to expect some babies on the mission?" said Tsunami seeing the developing relationship between the two youngsters.

"Let's hope not or her father will kill Naruto in a very painful way." Said Kakashi with a serious voice. Inoichi was capable of doing it, he cared too much for his princess.

In the woods Naruto finally stopped making Ino stumble a bit. She would've fallen if not for Naruto catching her into something of a hug. He let her go and stood before her.

"I would've said thank you if I haven't fallen because of you. Now can you explain to me why you had run with me so far. Are you trying to confess to me Naruto-kun?" she teased him

"I might some time if we continue like that." He teased back "Now to the serious matters, when we went to smoke with Asuma we actually talked about you knowing the real purpose of our team and myself. We decided to up your training to make sure that Sasuke won't be a problem for you if anything happens. He may be a dickhead but he's strong for a genin."

Ino nodded and prepared herself, she didn't know what kind of training she would get from her ANBU teammate.

**Time skip 1 week and half**

The Friday has come at last. Shikamaru developed a good plan for the battle and Naruto would give it to Zabuza as well as make the fine details with him.

The genin were trained into the ground for the battle that would ensue in less than 24 hours. Ino and Shikamaru were trained even harder until they were trained even under the ground.

Naruto continued on trying to use the **Hien **as a mid-range attack and somewhat succeeded. The problem was that he would have to make the speed of the streams perfect or it would turn and wobble in midair. He fought it by making one of the streams much faster. This way the blade of chakra turned in a predictable curved manner. He named it **Tsubame.**

Ino was trained by Naruto with the help of his clones. She was fighting against them to get a feel for a fight while outnumbered. He gave her some scrolls for Iryo jutsus. She wouldn't be with him all the time when she climbed in ranks. Her smaller reserves let her learn it quite fast and the training with them has helped her grow her chakra resources.

Speaking of their relationship it has moved to a new level. Ino couldn't stand Sakura talking in her sleep so every night she sneaked into Naruto's tent and slept hugging what she called her "living teddy bear". Naruto woke up every time with her in his sleeping bag. Who would've thought that her grip would be so strong? Maybe he would have to lessen her strength training if he didn't want to finish like a tooth paste one morning.

The real problem was that she was feeling a bit too comfortable with him and kept taking her onesie pajamas to sleep with him. Hopefully nobody would talk about it to Inoichi or Naruto wouldn't end well.

Naruto right now was running once again to the cave of the Kiri shinobis. He needed to talk to them before the battle. He knocked on the entrance to make sure they wouldn't attack them. Entering there Zabuza was polishing his sword, a long tradition and ritual for him.

"Naruto, at last you've come. I guess you have the plans for us." Naruto greeted them and took out the plans of the bridge.

"The Nara in our team studied the structure of the bridge thoroughly and came up with some ways to let us fight and live in case something happens without me reveling myself. Now look the battle will take place around here, 50 meters away from land. These pillars 25 meters away from land were weekend to make the bridge collapse with some simple tags if we are overrun. We could've put a few exploding tags here, here and here but any more and we could make the bridge lose the integrity where it was weakened." Naruto explained

"Why don't we back 25 additional meters and put more tags where the columns are?" Zabuza asked showing the place

"We thought about it but there is the possibility that we are overrun and our plan to collapse the bridge would only close us with the thugs."

"Maybe we could use my ice to make a course to slow them down to make them come one by one." Haku added

"That would help us greatly Haku. How many could you make there?"

"Depends on the amount of water on the bridge. The ocean is too far down, and it would take too much time to block them out."

"Can you do it with blood?" Naruto asked

"Yes, I could. How much could you produce?"

"Hmm let's check the math. They are supposed to be untrained and chaotic, so I guess they won't be further than one meter apart from each other. I have a technique that's around 3 meters wide. That should give us around sixty dead people. We can round it up to 300 liters."

"With the moisture in the atmosphere and the amount of blood I should be able to make 10 columns, if Zabuza-sama would use **Kirigakure no Jutsu **and make a thick mist maybe around 30."

"Great, I will ask Kakashi to make some earth walls with that. It should slow them down and turn the 10 vs 300 fight into a 10 vs 10 times 30 fight. We will count on you Haku. Zabuza I want you to go to Gato and precise the time of when you will attack, Asuma and Kakashi want to do it tomorrow at noon so everybody sleeps well and gets ready."

"See you tomorrow Naruto, I hope you will show me at least 15% tomorrow. In the chaos it shouldn't make a difference."

"Oh, trust me we have a way to turn it into much more. Just don't blink tomorrow. See ya."

Naruto quit the cave thinking about the fight, how long it was since he was able to use some of his skills without the fear of being discovered. Outside someone was waiting for him. It was a boy with pineapple shaped hair and earrings, also known as Shikamaru.

"Naruto what are you doing here?"

"Nothing"

"Nothing my ass, I know you, Kakashi-sensei and Asuma-sensei are hiding something big. I have a few pieces, but I can't connect them into something sturdy." Naruto changed his demeanor into a serious one.

"What makes you think that?"

"At the beginning, your placement into the teams was fishy. You were in an apprenticeship and people aren't called back from it unless a big reason was made. Normally they would've just taken the people that failed the tests last year. Second your team in itself. Ino was supposed to be with Choji and I to remake the InoShikaCho team our ancestors made. Third during our fight with Zabuza you became stronger for a fraction of a second, too strong. Last, you are too friendly with the senseis, you would disappear with them from time to time. I don't know what exactly you are hiding but I know that Ino's involved and knows as well. If it wasn't serious, she would talk about it from the start."

"You really are Shikaku's son. That brain of yours is just too good."

"How do you know my father?"

"We worked once or twice together, or more like he would give me missions."

"Wait he only gives missions to jonin and ANBU. Don't tell me you are some ANBU on a secret mission." Naruto only chuckled and revealed his tattoo.

"Yes, I am, Kakashi-sensei is as well. We figured you would've figured it out sooner or later and made sure that if you know too much, we would tell you, so you know how to close your mouth."

"I'm listening then."

"You see, Sasuke wasn't supposed to be a ninja. Since the Uchiha massacre he has become too unstable to become something else than a genin. Add to that the council who pampered him making his ego bigger than the Hokage monument, and you've got a huge risk. The sandaime had to let him through under the pressure from the civilians who would've stopped their businesses with the shinobi, so he made team 7. Two ANBUs under cover and a Yamanka with a huge potential to make sure to stop Sasuke before it was too late."

"Troublesome, is that why sensei trained me harder than the others and you trained with Ino or should I say you trained Ino? In this case how strong you really are?"

"Exactly, we knew you two could become great assets before everyone else that's why we needed you to become stronger. To answer this question the simple answer is I could fight on my own Kakashi or Asuma but I'm not strong enough to beat them, the puberty hasn't finished for me and until then I won't be in my prime. On the other side I was on the demolition team in ANBU so if anything bad happens I will abandon my mission and clear the thugs in less than a few seconds. Now come we shouldn't leave the others for too long. Oh and take it, I added a few things with Zabuza and his trainee to the plan."

They both ran to their base of operations with Shikamaru checking the best way to slow down the attackers. With that they probably won't have to blast the bridge into pieces.

The night has fallen, nobody trained today to make sure that they were ready for tomorrow. When everybody was asleep Naruto, Asuma, Ino and Shikamaru gathered in Kakashi's room.

"It's tomorrow then." Said Ino feeling nervous, Naruto took her hand to reassure her.

"Don't worry Ino-chan, I will protect you no matter what. Even better Kakashi found a way to make our odds at winning without me dropping the cover higher." Everybody in the room was looking at them waiting for the moment they would get together finally.

"What is he talking about Kakashi-sensei?" asked Shikamaru

"I will use a genjutsu that will make the others see Asuma, Zabuza and I killing the thugs. Meanwhile Naruto will let loose for a few seconds to make the fight more even."

"Shikamaru, Ino we don't expect you to rush in, you aren't exactly front liners, but your abilities will let you protect the client when some of them bypass us. Ino you learned a few medical jutsus, we will fall onto you if any of us get hurt. Shikamaru I believe you are good enough to coordinate the other genins, I know that Choji believes in you as well." Asuma said.

The atmosphere was getting lighter and lighter. Who would've thought that jonins were so fun to be around? After the meeting everybody went back to beds. Ino went to the toilet since everybody knew she would sleep with Naruto. Shikamaru took Naruto aside.

"Promise me, you are going to protect her. Our families are close to the point where Choji, Ino and I are like siblings."

"Don't worry about it, I won't let anyone harm her." Shikamaru smiled and went back to his room. Naruto waited for Ino and they went to bed together. For the first time he hugged her first.

"Don't worry about tomorrow, if anything happens, I will save you and everyone else even if that means showing my true identity. It would probably destroy the team and make me go back to normal roster as a jonin. If that happens how about an apprenticeship?" he asked jokingly

"I would love to Naruto-_sensei_" she answered teasing him. She hugged him back and both drifted away.

Next morning Naruto woke up with Ino laying on him. How did it happen? He had to admit though that she looked cute with her hair loose and her penguin onesie. He decided to let her sleep at least fifteen more minutes until he woke her up by petting her head. He was asking himself if he was developing stronger feelings for her than simple friendship.

She opened her eyes, fluttering her eyelids adding to her cute appeal, he was sure that in the future she would be a real beauty. Naruto blushed at the thought but controlled himself.

"Good morning sleepy head. We should get up and prepare for what will happen." She nodded and steeled her nerves; Naruto was with her and she was sure nothing would happen to her.

They entered their house with everyone getting their gear on. Shikamaru was counting the tags he had, Sasuke, Asuma and Kakashi were sharpening their weapons, Choji was making sure that his belts with kunais on top were properly attached and Sakura was… why the fuck she was putting make-up on? Naruto and Ino soon joined the group and did their own preparations with Naruto polishing his sword and Ino making sure her med-kit was full.

They looked menacing to the point where Tsunami didn't dare to enter and say hello, with Inari hiding behind her skirt.

"You don't need to worry Tsunami-san, we are just making sure that our gear is ready. We won't bite." Said Kakashi with an eye smile. Everybody did the same offering her a smile soon to enter their battle mode once again.

"Everyone ready? Then move out. Naruto let some clones behind in case Gato wants to take hostages." Kakashi said. Soon they entered the bridge seeing that Zabuza and Haku were already here. Sasuke wanted to attack them nonetheless but he was caught by his oversized collar thanks to Asuma.

They neared each other until Zabuza said "Hmmm, the kids from the last time have a better aura around them."

"We prepared them for that physically and mentally as much as we could" Kakashi then took him aside to mention how they were going to let Naruto go full power. Zabuza turned his head and mouthed to Naruto "I will be watching" to which Naruto smirked.

Speaking of him he was tightly holding Ino's hand to keep her nerves levels down. "Just remember what we talked about yesterday."

Fifty minutes later Gato came with his goons planning on finishing whoever was still alive. To his shock nobody was fighting, and they were watching him.

"Zabuza what is the meaning of this, why aren't you killing the bridge builder?"

"I should be the one asking that, you fat midget. You are the one bringing this army of yours to double cross me" Zabuza took off his headband and replaced with a new one delivered in the scroll with Mei's orders showing he wasn't a mercenary anymore.

"Doesn't matter, you aren't strong enough to fight them all, men kill them." The army went onto the bridge. They were sneering but so chaotic and disorganized that it hurt the shinobi's eyes. Kakashi started casting a jutsu in a way that everyone thought it would be a huge technique. In reality it was the genjutsu they talked about before.

Naruto ran at the thugs grabbing Zabuza's sword by pumping Yang into his arms and core. He charged the **Hien** into the huge chunk of metal and shot the **Tsubame** to the side. He tossed the sword back to Zabuza and began running into range for his next technique with his Wakizashi drawn.

The thugs laughed at him "Look the kid tied to show off but he shot it to the side!". Naruto didn't care and stopped 10 meters away from them. At this exact moment **Tsubame **turned around and cut at least sixty men in half. He didn't stop there, he crossed his arms making his sword go behind the back horizontally. Soon a 20 meter long Hien like blade was made from the Wakizashi. "**Sixth stance: Grass cutter!"****1**he slashed vertically. The numbers were downed from 300 to 100. He jumped back to his peers.

Kakashi, Asuma and Zabuza had to wake from their shock and take the same positions they had in the genjutsu. Getting there Kakashi stopped the genjutsu. They could've let Naruto clear everything but the genin had to earn this experience.

Ino and Shikamaru were astounded. "_Is it really my teddy bear?_" "_So, this was the power he was hiding? And I've got a feeling he didn't go all out or we would have to build a new bridge.". _They didn't puke and positioned themselves. Haku created the ice pillars and the jonin inside backed away with Kakashi closing the sides with **Doton: Doryuheki**.

Naruto and Sasuke joined the fray getting up close and personal. Slashing, bashing and using jutsus to kill their opponents. Shikamaru instructed Choji to join Haku at the middle ground where he would catch those that passed through and both of them would finish them off. Ino had her hands full as well, whenever someone passed the second defense line, she would be the last one, as well as healing anybody who jumped to her. Sakura was talking with Tazuna.

Meanwhile Inari decided to stop crying and do what he could to help the shinobi. After that night Naruto spoke with him a couple other times to make sure the boy comprehend what he should do. When ready he asked one of the clones to come with him. It didn't think that staying was a good idea anyway since Gato would know where to look for hostages.

The clone took Inari and Tsunami, leaving a few others behind to protect the house. They knocked on every door explaining the situation. Soon everyone was doing something to help. Men, women and children were making barricades out of anything, blocking the possible escape for the thugs from the hands of the shinobi, and positioned themselves with makeshift spears to stab anyone who ran back.

Sasuke was getting too giddy. He thought that killing them one by one was too easy, so he pushed them back further into the labyrinth. He was feeling the rush of the fight not seeing that he was encircled and outnumbered. He looked at any possible escape, his vision was in slow motion and he found out an escape.

Naruto used his Negative Emotion Sensing in case something happened, and he was right to do it. That shit stain wanted to switch with Ino. He couldn't stop it so he did the best thing he could. He timed his **Kawarimi **perfectly when Sasuke used his he would switch with Ino letting her fight on an even ground.

Ino didn't know what happened first she was teleported to where Sasuke was before and a millisecond before a sword pierced her, she was in the place of Naruto. The she saw him get impaled. He turned with a smile to her taking the sword out and sealing it with Yang.

He was furious now, his opponents didn't know who they were fighting against. He sheathed his sword and made claws with Yin around his hands. Twenty seconds later nobody was alive where he was, only dead bodies littering the ground and melting away. He would have a serious talk with Sasuke after this ended.

Thirty minutes later the fight ended. Ino was healing a gash on Zabuza. Gato was bound in ninja wire, hanging upside down. They didn't let the villagers come yet. Seeing Naruto, Ino wanted to run at him to thank him for saving her but she restrained herself seeing his eyes. Eyes of a predator locked on Sasuke.

"Sasuke what have you done before with Ino?"

"She should be thanking me to be useful to me!" "Yeah that's right!" said Sasuke and his lapdog.

Naruto didn't care what happened afterwards. He took him by his collar lifting him up and started bitch slapping him at every word he spoke "How. You. Dare. Say. Something. Like. That? Didn't. You. Listen. What. Kakashi. Sensei. Said. When. We. Formed. This. Team? If. Anything. Your. Life. Is. The. Useless. One. In. Here. DO? YOU? UNDERSTAND?"

Sasuke's face was bleeding and resembled a large pumpkin more than a face. Kakashi was furious as well, he would report the Uchiha when they would go back. Zabuza was laughing at the Uchiha, even he wouldn't have done something like that, and he was called the Demon of the Mist.

Naruto dropped him to the ground and said "That was the second education lesson. I ask myself if you will live through the third." He went away as if nothing happened and Ino came rushing to him.

"Naruto-kun are you okay?" he only showed his stomach. "I should've been stronger-" he stopped her there.

"This wasn't your fault Ino, you are strong, stronger than Sasuke probably right now who fights for wrong ideals. This situation should never have happened." He reassured her.

"Aren't you scared that he will go to the council?"

"Nope, I have three jonin's, three genin's and the client's testimonies as well as backing from the Hokage and a few clan heads. Should be a breeze." He laughed

**Time skip 1 week**

The bridge was finally finished. Tazuna was happy that it wasn't collapsed. Gato was tortured into telling all of his information and the money was returned to Nami as well as Gato for execution. Sasuke was locked in one room as well as Sakura who tried to let him out. Ino slept with Naruto everyday checking on him if his wound was truly healed. If you asked Naruto it was more likely to touch his abs.

It was time to part. Everybody said goodbyes with Zabuza and Haku leaving earlier this week for Kiri. Team 7 and 10 were now heading out when Inari came to Naruto.

"You've proved me wrong Inari. There are heroes in this world and you are one of them. If not for you the battle would have been longer and tougher. Become strong, no stronger since you are already strong."

They turned on their heel and finished finally their first C turned A rank.

"What should we call this bridge?" asked Tazuna

"The Bridge of Hope" answered Inari

"I was thinking about the Great Naruto Bridge" answered Tsunami

They would settle it later at home, they had a lot to do today.

_**End chapter 4**_

**AN: It was a longer one, I wanted to finish the Wave Arc in here. The updates will be slower now since break has come to an end. Thanks for reading.**

**1**** If anyone read Gamaran when I was thinking about this technique, I was imagining the Gurensen from this manga.**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, I wouldn't have to go through college. Every character belongs to Kishimoto unless they are my own OCs.

"Talk"

"_Thoughts"_

"**Bijuu, summons"**

**Jutsu**

**AN: Hey just a small clarification when I write "Ha!" it is the sound the shinobi make when accepting orders formally from their leader. It's like a roger. Like I said the updates will be slower now that I have to go back to class.**

Both teams were treading slowly at a civilian pace on their way to Konoha's gates. The reason for this slow pace were their two prisoners, Sasuke and Sakura. Bound with ninja wire, bags over their heads and chakra sealing tags on their chests. Maybe it was overkill but they still counted as arrested ninjas even if they couldn't overpower their escorts.

Sasuke was seething inside the bag. How dared they arrest the best ninja in their village. He tried growling at them, but his still bloated head from Naruto's beating let him only produce whizzing sounds. They knew Sakura would scream all the way so additionally they gagged her with a ball of cloth before putting the bag. They still had to go through it when she was eating.

Ino refused to heal Sasuke's face and nobody complained about it. They had to ask her about it only because it was in the protocol for transporting prisoners. Sasuke was asked as well but his whistles were interpreted as no. Signed by Kakashi, Asuma and Zabuza while he was still here. Nobody would question three jonins.

She was scared a bit for a moment if it would have consequences but Asuma residing as the head for the Sarutobi clan eased her mind. "Don't worry I will ask the Hokage that he makes it a shinobi only meeting, no civilians and by proxy no elders since they retired long ago."

Naruto was having his own type of fun on the back road. He asked Shikamaru and Choji to help him prank Sasuke. Since he almost hurt their sister in all but blood they agreed in picoseconds. They befriended the blonde once again since he was their club "leader" in early years of the academy. The club was called "Go-home-earlier-using-the-window club". Shikamaru wasn't sure which Naruto was real the ANBU or the cheerful teddy bear as Ino called him. Apparently, they weren't masks for the other, he just had those two personalities that never collided, and he could switch from one another.

The pranks were easy but the most fun because when it hit Sasuke it would hit Sakura as well and vice-versa. That was made by the ninja wire that attached them both. This way Shikamaru would either use his shadows to make Sasuke fall or he would stop Sakura making the rope around them tighten and hurt them.

Choji was less stealthy about it. Since Sakura was bitchy from start to the end, they began feeding them at different hours and not every day making them hungry. He would put his bag of chips before their faces, the scent traversing the cloth over their heads. Sometimes they would have patches of saliva appear through the bags.

Naruto used his special awareness to do the pranks, he would most often pick a bug and put it in Sakura's bag making her run away with Sasuke trailing on the ground until she hit something. Then he would trail them both.

Ino swiftly joined in seeing her friends do that. She didn't need anything to prank them she just had to assume her role. Since she was the only girl in the team, she was the one to assure the needs of Sakura. She would make her pee and poop in poisonous plants still remembering her trying to jump out of the nettles being only forced back in by the rope.

It was a fun week and a half since the battle on the bridge that was coming to an end when they have seen the gates from far away. When Sakura and Sasuke heard the teams talk about it they were happy. Sakura for the possibility for at last being able to put some cream on her backside while Sasuke would go straight to the elders to make everyone pay for this humiliation.

To evade the problems at the gate, Naruto contacted the ANBU before to let them through with some escort. This way they wouldn't be stopped by the guards who could later on spill everything about Sasuke being arrested.

They were encircled by ANBU around half a kilometer away and guided into one of the tunnels. That was even better, they wouldn't have to parade them before the entire village. If Naruto was right, this one ended straight under the Hokage tower with a lift that would open a secret door in the Hokage's office.

He wasn't wrong. Hiruzen was already waiting for them, having gotten the message from Naruto, he made sure that no one would come in. They would have to blast these doors if they wanted to anyway. He was happy seeing everybody back from this mission.

"Kakashi, Asuma give me the report of the mission I will review that later and ask if I need some clarification. Now care to explain to me what exactly happened? Naruto sent his clone to tell me that Sasuke and Sakura were arrested. Why?" demanded Sarutobi

"Ha! Genin Uchiha rushed into battle and bit too much that he could handle. Especially since we had a plan to make the fight a series of 1v1 or 1v2 max. When he couldn't escape, he endangered the life of his teammate Ino Yamanaka by performing a **Kawarimi **with her. If not for Naruto doing the same to let her get to a relative safety, she would've been dead by now. We arrested him proceeding as in the protocol as you can see. Genin Haruno was arrested for trying to liberate the first offender. That's all. We have the testimonies of all the onlookers, that is three jonins, one chunin, four genin as well as the client." Said Kakashi straightening his back becoming all professional.

"What do you mean by three jonins and a chunin? Asuma please remove the bags from their heads, they have the right to tell their version as well." As Asuma did the order almost laughing at Sakura and Sasuke's faces, Kakashi replied.

"The ANBU you dispatched earlier were able to strike a deal with Zabuza, they would ask Mizukage-sama to let him get back to Kiri for help during the fight. He was the jonin, the chunin was Haku Yuki possessor of the Hyoton Kekkei Genkai." As soon as he finished Asuma ended removing the bags leaving the gag in Sakura just in case she wanted to shout.

"Genin Uchiha, did you use **Kawarimi **to put your teammate Yamanaka Ino in danger to save yourself?" asked Hiruzen

"Pffrrrrttt, whizzzzzz pffffrrrrt!" answered Sasuke still unable to speak with the swollen face. Everybody was mocking the Uchiha, even the ANBU hidden in the office.

"Kuma can you heal at least his mouth so he can speak normally?" said Hiruzen. The ANBU lazily descended and took his time healing the mouth zone. When he was done, he let Sasuke speak once again.

"So, what if I used **Kawarimi **on her. I'm your best ninja and I should be protected. Her life is less valuable than mine especially with this." He opened his eyes to show a first stage Sharingan. The room was blasted with unholy amount of KI thanks to the Hokage showing his spirit still strong and Naruto.

"I see that you still haven't learned, time for lesson number three. Such a shame that you won't even be able to resist." He wanted to beat him until his eyes came out of his orbits but Hiruzen stopped him.

"Naruto-kun don't kill him, if you do, we are going to have bigger problems than right now. Genin Haruno what can you say in your defense?"

"Ino should be honored to protect Sasuke! She loves him as much as I do!" she shouted

"I never loved him; I had a crush on him before he turned into this husk of weak nothing." Spat Ino making Sakura growl at her.

"Genin Haruno, Genin Uchiha, you are guilty of endangering your teammates lives and helping a convict. You are sent to jail until the council decides of your fates." He wanted to ask Neko to put them in cells until Naruto halted him.

"Hokage-sama, I believe it would've been better to send them to ANBU jail. We don't know if some civilians or the elders won't try to help them." Hiruzen agreed to this proposition seeing that Naruto changed into his ANBU personality.

"What a waste of space. Who has her mother slept with to let this girl become a shinobi" asked Kakashi into the wind. The wind just sighed.

Meanwhile Sakura was crying, she was sent to jail, ANBU jail. Her butt was still burned by the plants in which Ino made her pee. She wanted to put some cream on it, at least the cold floor of the cell would sooth it. Little did she know that in ANBU cells you never touched anything, you would be hung by your hands and legs spread apart. After all it was designed to contain A-rank and higher shinobi.

Everybody quit the office not sure how to feel. They just finished an A-rank and got their pays. On the other side they had to struggle with Sasuke and Sakura for so long that if not for the abuse they put them through it would get annoying fast.

Naruto was walking alongside Ino. A rare thing for him to do seeing that the villagers didn't want to see him either. It was almost night right now after all the talk in the office. He wanted to stay alone with her for a little longer and accompany her home.

She gathered her courage and grabbed his hand. Naruto looked at her seeing a light blush when they have passed a lamp post. He smiled at her and held it even stronger until left it to grab it once again this time binding their fingers. They certainly developed the feelings for each other, but they would take the baby steps.

They neared her house and walked to the door. Ino knocked on it waiting for her parents to open it for her. Her father peeked out the door elated by seeing his daughter until he has seen the youngsters holding hands. He would take Naruto to the side one day to scare him like every good father would seeing his princess' new boyfriend.

"Ino you are back. Everything went okay on your mission?" Ino changed her smile into a frown remembering the end of it.

"What happened?" asked Inoichi

"Inoichi-san, we should probably speak inside about it." Suggested Naruto. Inoichi invited them inside and ushered to seat in the living room. "Before we start, you should know that the Uchiha is already at the ANBU prison. Now I'll let Ino take the scene."

"You see Tou-chan it all started on the last day. We prepared for the battle, Naruto-kun taught me some medical jutsus even if he can't use them himself. I was posted as the battle medic and the last defense line. Shika prepared a good plan to make sure that everybody would live. The night before Naruto-kun said he would protect me no matter what. And he did but not from our enemies but from the Uchiha." Inoichi's face paled, the council would pay for pushing this boy into the program. When Ino has seen her father come back to normal she continued.

"Sasuke… he didn't listen, he went too far not caring about all of the defenses we made before. Soon he was outnumbered and used **Kawarimi **to switch places with me. If not for Naruto-kun I would've been dead, he switched with me just before a sword strike and took it himself. If not for the Kyuubi inside him he would've been dead as well."

Inoichi wasn't sure what to feel at the moment, the eagerness to torture Sasuke or to thank Naruto. He settled for the latter…for now. He came at Naruto who was holding his daughter's hand, he didn't mind after what he was told. He then hugged the boy with a loud thank you. It was too loud making his wife wake up.

She wasn't happy coming downstairs to karate chop her husband. This feeling subsided when she has seen her daughter with Inoichi hugging Naruto.

"Dear you are back! Inoichi-kun why are you hugging Naruto so hard? He's starting to become cyanotic." She was told the same story this time by Naruto to not put too much strain on Ino. However, after thanking Naruto with a cold voice she wanted to find Sasuke and strangle him. It would've happened if not for everyone else restraining her.

"Saki-chan calm down, he's already in the ANBU prison, he's probably on his session with Ibiki or Anko already." Inoichi told her, holding the raging beast of a woman, Ino's gripping strength had to come from her mother.

Then something clicked in Inoichi's mind "Ino-chan, you've said Kyuubi before, right?"

"Yeah, we've had some time to talk with Naruto-kun and he has told me everything I wanted to know. And even more, like the true purpose of this team."

"Ara ara Naruto-_kun_ is it now?" said Saki forgetting about Sasuke, it was the best time to tease her daughter right now.

"Kaa-san!" Ino whined. Naruto has found a way to tease her once again. He took her hand into his and said with a big smile

"Yes, and she's Ino-_chan_." He didn't have shame about their budding relationship anymore. After all this time with adults having fun out of them and her sleeping with him it was nothing. Ino on the other side was red and Inoichi was lamenting about his princess growing too fast. As for Saki, she has found a new liking to the blonde.

After some late-night tea, Naruto decided it was time to go home. Anko was probably already sleeping, he would say hello in the morning. His exit was stopped by no one else but Neko knocking on the door.

"Sorry for bothering you Inoichi-san but Hokage-sama plans a meeting about the Uchiha tomorrow at 11AM. Naruto-kun you are to come as well." They all nodded, and Naruto finally said his goodbyes.

Entering his house, he was greeted by Anko sleeping on the couch. She must've fallen asleep when watching TV. He scooped her gently and put her in her bed. She was already in her nightwear so no need to take it off. He washed his face and went to sleep as well.

Fifteen minutes later he was beginning to fall asleep when he heard the window unlocking. He took a kunai under his pillow preparing for the attacker. At the right moment he pulled the attacker in throwing him on the bed pinning his arms.

Wait why were his clothes plushy and soft, and this smell it was "Ino-chan? What are you doing here?"

"Fufu Naruto-kun, how bold of you, not even a hi and you already throw me on your bed." She said teasing her favorite blonde, she wasn't sure about his reaction in the dark but the heat on his hands was a dead giveaway. "I'm here because I can't sleep. Having to remember that day has made me upset and I just couldn't sleep without my teddy bear. Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Naruto has let her go and moved her under the covers and joined her. "Yeah, now goodnight Ino-chan. It was too long since I had slept in a bed."

She nestled near him in the little spoon position taking his arm and putting it over her. "Good night my teddy bear" she giggled and let herself fall asleep with a feeling of protection and comfort.

Next morning Naruto woke up feeling a bit tight. Somehow Ino managed to crawl inside his oversized t-shirt making her head pop just next to his. "_Her cheek is so soft…"_. He would've let her sleep longer but a sudden knock on the door and Anko's head coming inside left him pale.

"Naruto-kun, you are finally back, thanks for putting me in bed yesterday that couch is giving me severe backpains when sleeping on it… He hehe hehehe I see that I interrupt something, we will talk later. Remember to use protection." She closed the door. Ino's face heated up. She woke up at the sound of the door opening and listened to the conversation.

"Ino-chan care to tell me why are you inside my shirt?"

"Eeeee, in the night I half woke up and wanted more of your heat, so I crawled inside and fell asleep." She said with a massive blush. She was happy that she was sober enough to not take off her own clothes before.

She crawled back out of it making sure to not scrape him with the zipper. She decided it was already too late to sneak in her house. She borrowed some clothes from Naruto that would count as unisex and changed with Naruto turning his back to give her some privacy.

They descended seeing Anko smirking at them. They had a sense of déjà vu when it first happened in wave as well.

"So how far have you gone you little lovebirds?" Anko asked

"We only slept together in the same bed Anko-nee. If I were you, I would look around to find a boyfriend yourself if you don't want Yugao-nee and Kurenai-nee to laugh at you." Naruto said

"That was a low blow Naruto-kun." Answered Anko but he ignored her making his way to the stoves to make something to eat for Ino and himself. They all ate together talking about the mission. Anko was getting giddy about having a new toy in the cells. Looking at the watch Naruto decided it was time to go to the council meeting.

He **Shunshinned **with Inojust before the door, he wasn't fazed by the fact that both teams were with him. Having Kakashi as a witness would further make sure that Sasuke would get punished. Asuma wasn't here because he was already inside as the Sarutobi representative since Hiruzen was the Hokage.

The doors opened and an ANBU asked all of them inside. The civilian council wasn't happy seeing the demon boy here making whispers about it thinking that nobody would hear them. They have forgotten that everyone else here was a ninja with heightened senses.

"Hokage-sama, why these teams are here? Why my daughter and Sasuke-kun aren't with them?" asked a woman who resembled Sakura but older.

"Ah yes they will be here in a moment. This part of the meeting is about the events during their mission leading to the arrest of said genin Uchiha and genin Haruno." This made an outbreak at the civilian part of the council as well as for the elders who pampered the boy.

"SILENCE!" Sarutobi screamed "Now since this is shinobi matter, I will ask nicely for the civilians and I mean all the civilians out." That meant that the elders were asked out as they were biased to the boy. They couldn't even try to resist, if they did, a new replacement for them would've been found.

When the room was shinobi only Naruto took out a kunai making everyone anxious. He has thrown it at the ceiling of the room and an ANBU fell down. He didn't care about what happened, the clan heads knew about him and only one person from the teams didn't have the information about his true status.

"Hokage-sama, I think we have seen someone like this already, haven't we?" asked Naruto in a rhetoric way. Hiruzen would have to make the security tighter.

At last the prisoners were brought by the ANBU. Under the bags over their heads they already had plans to appeal to the elders and the civilians to earn them nothing more than a hit on the hands. Those plans were broken when Sasuke and Sakura got to see the scrutinizing eyes of the clan heads.

"Sasuke Uchiha, you were found guilty of endangering the life of a teammate who is a clan heir as well. Sakura Haruno you were found guilty of helping an arrested criminal. The council will now decide your fate."

The talks began. They first have studied the testimonies written that day until everyone knew exactly what happened. Then one by one the witnesses were called to ask any questions that the council had. Inoichi was left out because of his own volition to only watch because he would be biased.

"Sasuke Uchiha do you want to add something in your defense?" asked Hiruzen

"Yes, so what if she's a clan heir? I am as well a clan heir to the Uchiha clan."

"No, you aren't because first to be under the law of clans, a clan has to have at least one functioning family like the Kurama clan. Second only someone can be named clan heir when they attain the Chunin rank. Since the needs aren't met you aren't a clan heir because there is no more Uchiha clan." Said Hiruzen

"I want the arrested to quit the premises as we will discuss the penance." The ANBU took Sakura and Sasuke out once again with bags over their heads and the clan heads started to argue.

"Let's begin with the Haruno girl as it shall be easier. From the stories of Team 7 and 10 we can simply deduce that she isn't cut to be a ninja. We should revoke her license and seal off her chakra with a few weeks in the prison." Said Shikaku and everyone else nodded. This girl would kill someone one day because of her lack of skills.

"Now onto Sasuke, his case is much more difficult. We can't take him out of the program now, the civilians would be in an outrage. We can't kill him because of his genes and capacity to have a new Sharingan user as well. Shikaku what do you suggest?"

"I have a plan, but it would have with divulging some secrets about Naruto in here." Hiruzen turned to Naruto to see his reaction.

"You can do it Shikaku-san, out of everyone here only Choji doesn't know the truth. He showed to be a true companion during this mission, and he has to know since we will probably work in the future together as they are missing a teammate."

"I see, to remind you of the reason why the Team 7 was created. Inoichi didn't approve of Sasuke's mental status before putting him into the ranks but the civilians pulled some strings and pushed him through. Team 7 was designed to stop Sasuke from becoming a risk. Two ANBU posing as normal shinobi and a Yamanka to judge his psychology. Since Sasuke's state worsened I would have a seal put on him that the Team 7 could activate to incapacitate or kill him in the last resort. As his punishment I would say at least one month in ANBU prison." Choji was looking at Naruto with big eyes. Shikamaru was right Naruto did hold back a lot during the mission.

"Everyone who agrees put your hand up." Every clan head lifted his or her hand showing the approval for the method.

"Good, now bring the defendants in." Sasuke and Sakura were brought back in and the room awaiting the decrees.

"Haruno Sakura, you will be sent back to ANBU prison for two weeks. During that time your chakra will be sealed, and you will be thrown out of the shinobi program." Sakura wanted to protest but she was taken back to her cell by an ANBU.

"Sasuke Uchiha, because of your deeds you will be thrown in the cell for one month. You will have another seal on yourself. Team 7 will now be able to paralyze you or kill you if they deem it necessary." Sasuke wanted to scream at the last part but he was cut short by another ANBU.

"This meeting session is closed. Kakashi, Naruto, Ino come with me to the office." They followed him standing before the desk where he sat down.

"Since you are an incomplete team for now, I have new orders for you. Kakashi you will be back in ANBU for this time. Naruto you will take Ino as a pseudo apprentice to make sure that she can overpower Sasuke if needed when he comes out. Now for the last Naruto I have a mission for you. I'm old, too old for this job. You will depart tomorrow to meet with someone, you will be in search for the new Hokage, namely Tsunade Senju. Ino since you know of the real reason you can go downstairs and get your pay for your mission on your team."

"Ji-chan I will have to take Ino-chan with me, she's my apprentice after all."

"Ah yes of course. Dismissed."

They quit the room and Ino turned to Naruto with a smile "When do we begin Naruto-_sensei_?"

"Drop the sensei Ino-chan. We are the same age and it would make me feel old. We will start in two hours after we eat."

Naruto made them something to eat and they both went to the Team 7 training ground. He didn't waste any time, the best way to make her accomplish the most training would be to make her reserves bigger until she could at least make one clone without almost dying. That way she could train in iryojutsu while her real body would train in taijutsu.

That was a good plan in his head. He made her practice **Shosen Jutsu **until she was on the verge of collapsing and then boost her chakra with his Yang. It would make her reserves get bigger every time when he replenished them making the time necessary a lot shorter.

In the evening he accompanied her back home from the training. Well more like put her on his back from overdoing it since the use of Yang made her fatigue faster with each use. He has given her to Saki who has put her in the bed.

Naruto went home when an ANBU descended in front of him

"Uzumaki Naruto, the council requires your presence in twenty minutes."

"What council?"

"The civilian."

"I'll be there." He didn't feel like going but it would be a pain in the ass later. He decided to go to the Hokage before to learn what is going on. He **Shunshinned **to Hiruzen's house and knocked on the door.

"Naruto-kun what are you doing here?"

"An ANBU has just come to me telling me that the civilian council wants me to come. Seeing that you are here means that someone's trying to do something _illegal_."

"These fuckers are trying something once again. I'm too old for this, I really hope that you will bring Tsunade back... Naruto do you want to play a prank on the council?" Hiruzen said with a smirk

"Tell me more." Said Naruto with a glint that spelled bad in his eyes.

Naruto has come to the door of the chambers with Hiruzen. The former one placed a genjutsu on himself making himself invisible. Naruto and the old Sarutobi entered the room seeing only the civilian council and the elders inside. Naruto took a chair and sat before them earning their ire.

"Demon boy how dare you disrespect us the council by seating before you were allowed?" said one fat civilian.

"Talk about disrespect, you didn't even say hello and you are already spewing insults. Insults that could put you down if someone would hear them." Responded Naruto

"How dare you speak like that to us?"

"I won't answer that. Now before you start, I will wait for the rest of the council."

"There is no rest of the council. This meeting is only between you and us, so you better behave yourself." Said a crippled man that the Shinigami warned him about.

"Now you are going to do as you are told. You will tell to the Hokage that the allegations about my daughter and Sasuke-kun are false." Said Sakura's mother

"And why would I do that?" he almost let out a laugh feeling the people outside.

"Because we tell you to do it. If you don't, we are- "at this moment the doors opened with all of the clan heads entering with Inoichi and Shikaku at the front.

"We would gladly know as well what you would've done if he didn't accept your orders." Said Shikaku with a yawn, this was troublesome but maybe it would stop the civilians from getting too much power. At the same moment Hiruzen made himself visible. This caused all of the coloration from the civilian faces to disappear.

"Yes, I would love to know as well." He said with a cheerful smile. Behind it was something evil though that made them cower in fear. "Oh Naruto, can you punish the one who breached the law?"

Naruto didn't even have to answer the question. He concentrated Yang in his finger and pointed it at the offending councilman. The fatty tried to run but he couldn't go far as Naruto pierced his head leaving a large hole in it. "Anybody else wants to tell me I'm a demon?"

"ANBU take everyone, elders included to their new house in the ANBU prison, they will see their beloved Sakura and Sasuke in there." He wanted to do this for so long but then it appeared that Danzo was one step before him. It was a clone that came here that puffed away when an ANBU tried to grab him.

The real Danzo wasn't happy. Hiruzen and that boy tricked him. Hopefully his plan to get Konoha into his hands would work just fine in a few months. He would just have to wait in his lair.

Naruto wasn't happy when he came home. He wanted to speak with Anko but this whole ordeal made him get home late and she was sleeping already. Sighing he went upstairs to his room to go to sleep. Something wasn't right, there was a bulge under his covers.

He gently lifted them with a kunai in hand if it was someone trying to hurt him. There she was, Ino was sprawled on his bed in another onesie, this time it was a cat, and snoring lightly. She was too cute like that for him, if she wasn't sleeping, he would hug her to death. He restrained himself and has seen a note on his nightstand.

"I can't sleep without my teddy bear anymore. Anko has let me sleep here to wait for you. Signed Ino"

He didn't have the heart to wake her up. He changed as well not caring if she was here since she was asleep and went to bed with her. It was strange they haven't even kissed or anything and they were already sleeping together. "_Whatever". _He needed to sleep.

**Time skip one day**

Naruto and Ino were in his living room checking their gear as well as the exact location where they would meet this mysterious person. Ji-chan has told him to look for a white-haired pervert. That's all he has gotten as information. When ready they went on their way to the gates and to the indicated spot at least one day away.

Around a few hours away Ino has found her chance. Until now they were talking about the training, he would put her through. She wanted to know something else.

"Naruto-kun." she called him

"Yes Ino-chan?"

"What do you think about us? We aren't even dating, and I can't sleep without you since the wave mission. We hold hands but we never talk about us." She couldn't take it anymore. They were so close yet so far away.

"I'm not sure. I grew up without the feeling of love you know and when I finally had someone to call family, I was already in ANBU and mature for my age not needing the parental love. It's just that… I know I feel something for you, but I can't describe it. I just don't know how to show love to someone else. Just give me some time. Please" he said watching the clouds trying to find the right words to not hurt the girl with him.

She looked at him catching his eyes. "_What was I thinking. Of course, he would have problems with relationships. Anko never had one and all the others were probably giving him answers so vague that he didn't understand." _She came closer to him and gave him a hug, the same hug that she has given him that night in the clearing. "Don't worry Naruto-kun, I will wait."

She wouldn't change it anyway; they were compatible in her eyes. They were both boisterous and outgoing with Naruto being able to become serious and calm if needed. He helped her from day one being gentle yet firm. She was sure that he was the type of guy she wanted. Remembering Sasuke she could only laugh at herself. What was she seeing in him before?

She let him go and took his hand. They weren't running, this wouldn't pose a problem. They happily walked like that to the nearest point where they would stop. Naruto has chosen to stop earlier than planned to train her and let her sleep. After the session they set a tent and the fire. No need to make two when they both knew they would sleep together.

Naruto was thoughtful this time. He brought a much larger sleeping bag since whenever Ino came in, the smaller one was too tight for his likings. They both laid together in a looser hug since the sleeping bag let them. At least until Ino fell asleep and squished her blonde.

They were talking, sharing the fun stories about themselves even if Naruto didn't have much. Most were his blunders in ANBU or with his sisters. That was all fun and games until Naruto mentioned Hinata.

"… so yeah, I got beaten up by the kids, but they let her go. Since then I believe she developed a crush on me and is stalking me from time to time. I'm really thankful to the one who invented **Shunshin** or she would've known I was in ANBU."

"You knew about it? Why not act on it?"

"You know fully well, I'm the outcast, she's the princess of the Hyuga clan. The village wouldn't let it happen."

"Hmph so I'm only the second choice? And not a princess at that?" she turned around with a mock hurt. She knew it wasn't true but teasing him was her specialty.

"Of course you are a princess Ino-chan, my princess, and you never were a second choice. Hinata is a good girl but she never talked to me when you showed me kindness." He hugged her and she turned around making their faces separate by no more than a few centimeters. He started descending on her to kiss her, but she stopped him putting a finger on his lips.

"Don't do that Naruto-kun. I'm sorry about it, subconsciously I tried to push you in this direction. I don't want to rush you into anything you aren't comfortable with. I said I will wait for you my teddy bear, a month, a year or more, doesn't matter. We are still young so take your time. Though I will hold you accountable for the princess part, I want to be treated as one."

"Thank you Ino-chan" he said with a smile that made her heart go faster. She jumped at him; she said no kisses, but nobody said anything about big hugs. Once again, they fell asleep with Ino almost squeezing the life out of him.

The next day they arrived at the location pointed on the map, it was a small onsen village. There were more hot springs than houses in here. Ino whined about wanting to go into one after the training he put her through yesterday. He would have to search for their new team member, so he agreed.

Selecting the one the pair was directing itself into the right direction. Before Ino could enter it, they heard giggles. Manly perverted giggles. Naruto activated his Negative Emotions Sensing which made him look up. There was a man peeping on the women inside. He had white hair and looked at least in his fifties.

Wait white haired pervert. That had to be him, but Naruto didn't like the perverts after living with Anko, Kurenai and Yugao as sisters. He made Ino stop saying he would make something fun. He spread his hands into two opposite directions and fired an underpowered **Bijuu Cannon **at his target. The man couldn't escape and was hit head on by the blunt force making him go fly. Naruto wasn't finished, he charged a strong **Yin Laser **and shot it in the direction.

Have Jiraiya not been a veteran he would have lost his balls seeing the beam of light travel between his legs. He landed, but since he was still dizzy from the earlier strike he landed on his face, hitting a rock. Getting his bearings, he ran back to his godson who sent him flying thankful that he wasn't thrown in the women's side. Coming there a few minutes later with a laughing Naruto since he was bleeding out of his broken nose and a disgusted Ino since she almost went inside there.

"Not funny Gaki. I almost lost my balls have I not turned in the air!" he screamed

"That was my goal actually. I guess Ji-chan was talking about you, but he didn't tell me who are you exactly."

Jiraiya began laughing in a supervillain like style. He did a pose and summoned a giant toad behind him. The white-haired man began dancing, it could have some impact but the fact that blood was flowing out of his nose was making the sight peculiar. "I am the Sage of Mount Myoboku, living and fighting with the toads, I am the great Sage Jiraiya."

Naruto could swear he heard the name somewhere before. He couldn't remember even if life depended on him and the fact that he was asphyxiating from laughing at the man and his introduction. Catching his breath, he saw Ino getting shivers of disgust. He patted her head and told her not to worry about the old pervert. Then he remembered one part of it.

"Jiraiya? Like the same Jiraiya of the Sannin? Teammate of Orochimaru and Tsunade Senju? Now I understand why Ji-chan would send you on this mission."

"Yes, that's me mouhahahaah. But you forgot one thing I trained the fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze himself. Now that I think about him, if your hair was shorter you would look exactly like your father."

Then it clicked in Naruto's brain he remembered his parents getting angry when they learned that his godfather never met him. It was the same man that was before him who left him alone to the wolfs. The man who gave him his name. Ino was perplexed, Naruto never talked about his parents, it never came up since he was an orphan and she didn't want to scratch some wounds.

"Hey Ero-sennin." Naruto tried as hard as he could to keep a smile on his face to not let his plan of what he would do to Jiraiya. He came to about one meter from the man still keeping his killer intent subdued. He lifted his arms as if to hug him, that tactic always worked. Then he caught the old man's head and kneed him in the face empowered by a thrust of Yang.

"That was for leaving me you motherfucker." He said to Jiraiya not wanting to be near him.

"Naruto you have to understand. I couldn't see you because of my work. It wasn't safe." He tried to rebound but like always the excuses never worked.

"Yeah cause the village was much safer for me. Do you know what was even happening there?! I had to have an ANBU protection all my life because the village wanted me dead. I became an ANBU before the age of ten because it was safer for me to go on suicide missions than stay in the village." He took off his shirt to emphasize what he was talking about as well as revealing his tattoo. "So, tell me what would be safer for me. Going around with a spymaster learning directly from him or living on the streets asking myself when would I die from a villager's hand? Tell me!"

"I'm sorry" that's the only thing Jiraiya could muster out of his mouth.

"If saying sorry would solve every problem, the world would have been a much better place." He turned around taking Ino's hand and going to another onsen. He needed it as well right now.

"Naruto-kun, he was talking about your father before who was he?"

"I've never told you, did I? It's an even bigger secret than the Kyuubi inside of me. When the Yondaime sealed the beast, he didn't choose a random orphan. Only an Uzumaki could hold the massive chakra within. The luck was that his son was born thanks to Kushina Uzumaki. Yondaime sealed the beast in his own son, me." He said touching his belly.

Ino was baffled, all of the biggest Konoha's secrets were concentrated on this young man. The Kyuubi, the youngest S-rank demolisher and the son of the Yondaime. "Why you never talk about it? If you did the villagers would kiss the ground beneath you, they would treat you like… Sasuke…" she caught herself knowing the answer now.

"You have one part of the answer, there is another, if they learned of it, I would've been put under the CRA law and be required to have multiple wives to rebuild the clan. I don't want to do it, I have my eyes on a single girl anyway, don't I Ino-chan? I don't have the power to make a rebuttal to the council so it will have to wait."

The mention of a certain girl he had his eyes on made Ino blush knowing who he was talking about, she wouldn't want to be forced to share him. She wanted her teddy bear only for herself "Thank you Naruto-kun"

"Now let's go to the onsen, Jiraiya has a lot to think through before we continue the mission."

**Next day**

Naruto and Ino woke up in their bed. There wasn't much time to play today so they quit it and got themselves ready. They would have to find Jiraiya once again and work with him even if it would leave a bad taste in Naruto's mouth. Opening the door Jiraiya was already there waiting for them with a sour mood.

"Naruto, I know that you must hate me for everything till now but we need to continue this mission together anyway."

"I don't hate you, I'm just disappointed at your and Ji-chan's disability to look into the future. Don't worry I will be professional with you, I'm in ANBU remember?"

"Hey how about I train you?" this made Naruto a bit interested

"And what would you teach me?" Jiraiya motioned them outside until they arrived in a quiet place in the woods.

"I will teach you one of your dad's jutsus the **Rasengan**!" he said producing the spiraling sphere in his hand with a smirk waiting to see Naruto's reaction.

Naruto yawned at it and spawned his own with futon chakra imbued in it "This is the futon version of the **Rasengan**, **Futon: Rasengan**. It's not finished more like half away from the final product. If you don't have anything else to show me, we should go look for your teammate. I have my own apprentice to teach you know?"

Jiraiya had to manually lift his chin off the ground. This kid not only mastered the **Rasengan, **but he managed to add elemental chakra into it. Something that even the Yondaime or himself couldn't do. He had to pull out his ace right now. "Then there is something else, I will let you sign the summoning contract for the toads." He unbuckled the scroll behind his back and has laid it open on the floor.

This was something else. The toads weren't stealthy, but it wasn't his specialty anyway. He kneeled in front of it seeing the names of his father and Jiraiya written in blood. He bit his finger and did the same.

"Now what?"

"The hand seals are boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram. You will need to access the Kyuubi chakra to summon the head summon though."

Naruto yawned once again just to irk Jiraiya. He did the seals and concentrated his chakra "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**. A small puff happened on the ground and a cat sized toad appeared.

"Yo, I'm Gamatatsu. Who are you? Do you have any sweets?" Ino and Naruto were looking at the toad. She took out a candy and has given it to him.

"Hello Gamatatsu, I'm Ino and this is Naruto. He's the one who summoned you here. Here take the candy."

"Thank you, if you have any more candy be sure to summon me again." He said and puffed away.

"One strange summon that was." Naruto commented.

"I told you Naruto to use the Kyuubi's chakra. We will have to train you in order to access it." Jiraiya said smugly. He thought that at last he would have found something to train the blonde in.

"Who do you think you are talking to? I just decided to know what I could've done with a portion of my own chakra to test the things out." He did the same thing this time pumping himself full of Kyuubi's chakra. A humongous smokescreen appeared. Jiraiya couldn't take any more of those blonde geniuses. He just summoned Gamabunta on his second try.

When not only Gamabunta but Gamaken and Gamahiro showed from under the smoke Jiraiya was on the verge of tears.

"Jiraiya where is the danger? Why have you summoned all of us to this place?"

"It wasn't the pervert that called you. I used too much chakra and happened to summon the three of you. I'm sincerely sorry for that since I only wanted to summon the head of the Gama clan." Naruto said with a bow. From what he was told in the ANBU it was better to be courteous while first meeting the boss summon.

"Do you think I will believe such a young human as yourself summoned all of us? Don't lie to me or else I will punish you." Said Bunta with Ken and Hiro only acting as watchers to the situation in case Bunta got too angry.

"I'm not lying, Jiraiya just let me sign your contract. Before I limited myself to a small amount of chakra and summoned a small toad, Gamatatsu." Gamabunta was having nothing of it. He was summoned out of a mahjong game with Fukasaku-sama and Shima-sama. Someone would pay for it and this lying kid was a good victim.

He swung his large sword at Naruto who created a clone to send Ino away. The land cracked where the sword hit. Bunta was sure that it was a one hit one kill deal. But then he saw a golden orange glint running on the edge of his sword.

Naruto wasn't feeling merciful today. This toad first called him a liar and now he attacked not only himself but Ino as well with lethal force. Boss summon or not the toad would get its ass whooped. He jumped using his Yang, then shooting a one-sided **Bijuu Cannon **flying into the air while pushing the toad's head to the ground with the thrust. When high enough he used **Yang Meteor **at full power.

If it were a normal person, he would just evaporate. On the other hand, this was a twenty-meter-tall toad. Still Bunta would feel the burn on his head for a few days from the temperature made by Naruto compressing the air before him as well as the bruise on his chin.

The other toads weren't fast enough when they have seen this child go from polite to outright aggressive and not caring about the future wrath of the toads. Even if he took Bunta by surprise Hiro and Ken were impressed. This child might have been the real summoner.

Meanwhile Naruto was preparing for another attack. He would've used something even deadlier if it wasn't for two small toads appearing before him.

"Bunta-chan, what is going on here? We were worried when the three of you were summoned. We thought it was Jiraiya-chan, but he wasn't the one who summoned you. The scroll said it was Naruto-chan, you know the Minato-chan's son." Said the male looking toad.

Bunta growled and lifted himself up. Looking closer at the boy it was true that he looked a lot like Minato. "This is Minato's kid?"

"Yes I am. Now can you tell me why you attacked me and my friends?" asked Naruto tapping his feet on the ground. Fukasaku and Shima turned to Naruto then to Gamabunta asking for more details.

"He said he summoned us. I was sure that he was lying and I kind of attacked him because he just took us from the mahjong party with you Shima-sama, Fukasaku-sama."

Fukasaku jumped in the air straight at Gamabunta looking like he was going to karate chop him. What Naruto has seen was too weird. The small old toad chopped the giant one… and Gamabunta was sent to the ground. "Bunta-chan, I told you to be more polite to humans." He said with a disapproving voice and turned to Naruto

"Now Naruto-chan, can you explain why you planned on using lethal force on Bunta?" asked Shima

"I'm sorry you had to see that honorable elders of the Gama clan. Gamabunta here attacked not only myself but my friend and apprentice as well. Have I not intervened she would've been dead by now. That's why I decided to use lethal force to protect her, since fighting a twenty-meter boss toad isn't in my daily tasks." Said Naruto with a small bow. At this moment Ino and Jiraiya came back.

"Don't worry Naruto-chan, Bunta isn't always the most amiable of us at the beginning but he will warm up to you. And please we aren't honorable elders, you can call us Fukasaku Ji-chan and Shima Baa-chan." Said Shima

"Now Bunta-chan I think that has proven that Naruto-chan is worthy of being our summoner. We shall return home and clean this mess. Goodbye Naruto-chan, Jiraiya-chan." Said Fukasaku and all of the toads returned to mount Myoboku.

Everyone was tired. Summoning giant toads and almost getting killed by them or fighting them off isn't the best way to begin the day. However, they had to advance to the next stop where their target would be.

"Ino-chan, make a clone here. I will leave mine as well to teach you while we run to…?" said Naruto nonverbally asking Jiraiya their destination

"Tanzaku Gai."

"To Tanzaku Gai. Don't worry about chakra exhaustion, I will carry you if needed."

Ino did as instructed but left two clones testing her chakra reserves capacity. If not for the training Naruto has put her through, she would've died at a quarter of a clone. Now she could do two feeling a bit lightheaded. She was going to fall but Naruto caught her. She was getting ready to get piggy backed when he took her bridal style and ran off to their next destination.

It was already 10PM when they arrived at the town. Naruto has let Ino get on the floor for the first time since he took her in his arms. She descended gracefully feeling energetic, thanks to Naruto covering her in a warm blanket of Yang during the entire trip.

There was something strange in this town. A feeling of dread when they entered, a scent of danger and the foremost something was missing, something big. Right it was the castle that was supposed to be here. Only a few people in this world could've done it and one of them was the ultimate medic Tsunade Senju. They were on the right track.

"Let's begin the search. Naruto make as many clones as you can and scan every casino and every bar in the town. If she's here these are the places where we can find her." Said Jiraiya. He was right, fifteen minutes later one of the clones have found their target in one of the bars. They walked casually to the place, she was already inebriated and wouldn't leave until a few hours.

Entering the bar, they could see the buxom blonde with a brunette who was holding a pig. They came near her until Tsunade has seen Jiraiya.

"I knew that my win at the casino wasn't a fluke. To meet two of my teammates in a span of one day isn't normal." Said Tsunade

"Hello to you too Tsunade-hime." Said Jiraiya sitting next to her with Naruto and Ino sitting next to the brunette who presented herself as well as the pig named Tonton.

"What do you want Jiraiya? I know that you wouldn't have come if it wasn't for something."

"You hurt me Hime. Can't I check on my old teammate?" seeing that Tsunade wasn't buying it Jiraiya became serious "Tsunade Senju, by the order of the Sandaime Hokage you are to return to Konoha to become the next Hokage."

Tsunade scoffed at it "I don't want the position. Only fools become Hokage, they always die young. I bet that if sensei continued longer, he would die in a span of a year." She said taking a sip of sake.

Naruto couldn't listen to it anymore. Not only she insulted his surrogate grandfather but his father as well. Add to it the fact that she insulted her own family and Naruto was boiling inside showing his kyuubified eyes.

"Jiraiya, I don't think she's the right material for being Hokage. We must've made a mistake. The legendary medic who saved countless lives during the war couldn't be this unenthusiastic hag who only knows how to drink and insult those that sacrificed themselves for the village. I bet that even a genin could take her on if needed. Let's go back and look for a better candidate." Said Naruto. Ino was scared about what would happen in a moment. She already heard that cold voice with that cheerful smile on his face. She took his hand to calm him down.

"Brat who are you calling a hag? You wet behind the ears genin. You think you can take me on? Then let's take it to the street, I will show you the difference between us." Said Tsunade cracking the glass in her hand.

Naruto didn't have to be told twice he lifted himself and went to the door. "What are you waiting for hag?" he incited her. She wouldn't take such insults from a genin, she stood up and followed him outside. Jiraiya was sweating about what would happen if those two battled in the street. He took out a scroll to hastily create a barrier in case they decided to go all out.

They were around ten meters apart, a classic standoff taken straight from a western movie. The others were grouped at one side of the road with Jiraiya setting up the barrier. Tsunade scoffed at her opponent and lifted one finger.

"This will only take one finger to beat you into the ground. Let's make a bet if you win, I will come back with you and become the Godaime if not you will give me every penny in your wallet." She said. Naruto was ecstatic inside; she was underestimating him heavily and it would bring her to her downfall. Jiraiya being ready began the match.

"Hajime!"

Naruto didn't waste any time. He took out a shuriken and thrown it at her "**Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" **the shuriken multiplied in the air making a barrage. Tsunade could only jump to evade them all. Naruto didn't stop his charge, using Yang he jumped at her with a cocked fist that she blocked with one finger even if it started to bend.

He fired Yang from his elbow overpowering her defense sending her to the ground where one of the previous shuriken transformed back into a clone. It was ready to intercept her and strike her down.

Tsunade used her old reflexes to maneuver in the air and hit the clone that was waiting for her on the ground with her fist. Normally she would've lost at this moment since she has broken her promise of only one finger, but she began running at real Naruto who just landed on the ground. She cocked her fist only to strike the air as Naruto vanished.

Behind her Naruto was forming a tiger seal while crouched putting out excessive amounts of Yang. She didn't have the time to dodge the jutsu he was preparing as she was still mid swing "**Sennen Goroshi!" **Naruto shouted pushing his fingers into her butt making her scream in pain and fly away. He still remembered when Kakashi used it on him during ANBU training.

On the side Ino was supporting a heavy blush seeing the technique while Shizune sweat dropped. On the other hand Jiraiya was noting something while giggling.

Naruto didn't waste the time and the opening and sprinted at the place where she would land striking her into the ground and leaving her a dazed and in pain from the attacks.

"I win even after you broke your promise of one finger." he exclaimed and turned to Jiraiya "See I told you she's no material for a Hokage. I humiliated and beat her because she was thinking I was a genin. Let's go back this hag doesn't have what it takes." Said Naruto

Tsunade hearing that was holding back sobs. She really became a loser who can only drink and gamble her life away. She was far from being able to become a Hokage, she was far from being one of the Sannin, a title she was so proud of. She made a promise to herself to become better to become the Hokage she promised to be before the fight.

Before the trio could go away, she stood up and shouted "Wait!" making them stop and look at her.

"I need your help, Orochimaru wanted to make a deal with me. I can't do it on my own. Please let me become Hokage and become a ninja I once were." This was a proclamation that Naruto liked to hear. He didn't care if she wasn't in her prime right now, if she struggled to become stronger, they would help her and come back with a true Hokage.

"What did Orochimaru want?" asked Jiraiya.

_**End chapter 5**_

**AN: Thanks for giving me some of your time.**


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, I wouldn't have to go through college. Every character belongs to Kishimoto unless they are my own OCs.

"Talk"

"_Thoughts"_

"**Bijuu, summons"**

**Jutsu**

"What did Orochimaru want?" asked Jiraiya.

Tsunade walked slowly to the group, having a limp. That brat would pay for it one day. She would punish him for it when she became Hokage but now they had bigger problems.

"Let's go back to the hotel where we stopped. We'll talk there." She said. It wasn't a bad plan especially since Naruto, Ino and Jiraiya had to find a place to sleep. They went to the hotel and they took two rooms. Tsunade and Shizune were sure it would have been Naruto and Jiraiya in one and Ino in the other. To their astonishment it wasn't as they predicted.

"Naruto are you and Ino a couple?" said Shizune on way to Tsunade and Shizune's room.

"No, not yet. We try to take it easy but since our first real mission we began sleeping together. Don't worry we are fully clothed." He said that to not irk on of the women, kami knew they all hated perverts, and to stop Jiraiya from imagining things. They finally sat down in the room.

"So Hime, what did the snake want from you?"

"He came earlier today and told me he has a potential candidate for a medical breakthrough, but he didn't specify. He said that I would have to work for him and give him the results. As for payment he would… he would bring Dan and Nawaki back." Said Tsunade.

"Tsunade-sama you told me that we would have to only heal someone! Why have you lied to me?!" shouted Shizune in an outburst

"I'm sorry Shizune, I shouldn't have, but the payment was too appealing. I have really stooped low, haven't I?" she asked already knowing the answer.

"I'm disappointed in you Tsunade-sama. If you haven't changed your mind about it, I would have renounced you as my master. I think we must thank Naruto-kun for putting some sense in your head the hard way." Said Shizune huffing at what her master was thinking.

"Tsunade I think I know what he wanted you to do. Orochimaru is trying to gain immortality to learn every jutsu. From what I know he does that by switching bodies every three years. I can guess that he would have you make a fake body for him to take over. It would have been truly a medical breakthrough to make a functional body from scratch." Jiraiya said making Tsunade gasp in shock. Maybe she wouldn't punish the blonde for making her seat awkward from his technique. He just stopped her from doing something stupid.

Meanwhile Naruto was thinking about another thing the older blonde said. "What do you mean by bring them back?"

Tsunade's face became full of sorrow "Nawaki, he… he was my little brother, he was killed during the war by a trap and Dan was my lover who was killed in action." She said on the verge of crying seeing their corpses in her memories.

Naruto on the other side wasn't happy about it, there were only two ways to bring people back "I don't want to break your hopes but there are only two known ways to bring people back. First is to use **Edo Tensei**, he would summon them from the underworld as his puppets and husks of their old beings. The second is to force the Shinigami into releasing the souls back but they won't have a corporeal body. I don't think that Orochimaru can overpower the Shinigami into doing it so that only leaves option one."

After all, he knew what he was talking about. Even Kami had to strike a deal with the God of Death to let his parents come back for only a relatively short amount of time. Meanwhile Tsunade was trying to hold her tears, maybe she really had this glimmer of hope when Orochimaru proposed that arrangement.

"I'm sorry about being so blunt about it." Naruto said not daring to touch her.

"It's okay, we can all have dreams, some just won't happen." Tsunade said wiping off any tears that threatened to leave her eyes. She promised to become once again worthy of being called a Sannin. She wouldn't let this get to her. She began calculating in her head and something didn't check out in what he was saying.

"Gaki, how can a mere genin like you knows stuff like that? Another way to put my question is: are you really a genin?" Tsunade asked to which Naruto scoffed.

"Who has ever told you that I'm a genin?" he asked. She wanted to answer that but every time she opened her mouth, she closed it already knowing the answers.

"Then what are you? A chunin? It would be plausible at your age. But I haven't fallen enough to be beaten that way by a new chunin, right?" she asked for reassurance. Naruto smiled and revealed his tattoo, she would have known anyway when she came to office.

"I'm in ANBU future-Hokage-sama" he said with a mock bow not sure what to call her since she graduated from being a hag when she wanted to improve. Shizune had eyes larger than the saucers from which Tsunade liked to drink so much.

"Wait, wait you are what thirteen? Fourteen? You would have to graduate at most at six if you are in ANBU." Tsunade said

"And another miss. Because of who I am, I skipped academy at eight, began boot camp at eight and half and became an ANBU at nine, to finish I became a captain at around twelve."

"That's absurd, what kind of circumstances would let a child go on suicide missions before he even tasted sake from his parent's stock." She said and at that moment Jiraiya and Ino felt a pang of sadness.

"I haven't introduced myself, have I? I'm Naruto Uzumaki the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. And well you can say that being in ANBU was a safer route for me than continuing the ninja program in a normal way." He said with another mock bow.

"Shizune bring me some sake, that is too much for my nerves. Since I will know anyway in a few weeks, in what part of the ANBU were you?" said Tsunade with Shizune brining the bottle, she would need a drink as well.

"Do you have a Bingo book on you?" seeing her take it out he continued "Then check page 84 if I'm correct."

She opened it, there was no photo but what she learned soothed the fact that she got her ass kicked or poked to be exact by this brat. "Ushi, S-rank demolisher, early jonin overall except for his ability to destroy everything. A-rank better to face alone than in large groups because of his specialty. Nickname Golden Demon." She read out loud.

"Yup that would sum it up pretty well." He said with a proud face.

"Is she an ANBU as well?" Tsunade said pointing at Ino

"Nope, that's Ino-chan, she's a genin, my teammate and a pseudo apprentice for a month." He said with Tsunade visibly relaxing. Two blonde geniuses in one room was enough for her.

"What do you mean by teammate?"

"It's a long story, I will tell you later as you will need to know that there might be some problems when we go back." He said

"Great… But you still didn't tell me about how you know the methods of returning people back to life especially the Shinigami way." Said Tsunade. Naruto coughed in his hand to get some time before he would start speaking.

"You see this is one of the reasons I was forced into being an ANBU. Get yourselves comfortable because what you will hear will make you think about your life. You see when I was younger people would try to hunt me down on the Memorial Day of the people who have fallen during the Kyuubi incident. One of them was so bad that the Hokage would always take me to his house for a few days around this time. When I was eight someone decided to kill me before Ji-chan would take me to safety. He planted explosives in my house, if not for a simple way to alarm me I would be now in a coffin in multiple parts. Anyway, I was still harmed during the explosion. That's when I met my parents who after releasing Kyuubi to let her heal me. They stored some amount of chakra in the seal and when it faded away the Shinigami came. Not to retrieve their souls but Kami struck a deal with him to let my parents be with me for six months to train me. The deal on my side is to kill Orochimaru and a certain man that caused the Kyuubi incident. That's how I know about this way to bring people back." He said letting them all ingest what he just told. Something he told only a few people.

"Wait, if Minato and Kushina were alive how did nobody see them?" asked Jiraiya getting out of his stupor.

"That's what I told you before, they didn't have bodies, they were inside of my mindscape just like the Kyuubi." Jiraiya nodded showing that he understood but something else was bothering him.

"Did you just say that the Kyuubi's cage is open? How could have your parents let that happen?!" said Jiraiya

"Kaa-san was the one who took off the seal. Remember I told you the Kyuubi wasn't responsible that night. Someone with a Sharingan put her in a genjutsu that made her rampage. She was sealed into me until she has calmed down. If you don't want to believe me, I have a way to let her out for a small amount of time." Naruto didn't wait for an answer seeing that everybody was dazed from everything that was told in this room.

He covered one of his hands in Yang and the other in Yin making them look like thin clawed gloves made of chakra. He did his favorite hand sign for **Kage Bunshin** and said "**Yin Yang Bunshin**". The chakra on his hands started flowing on the floor making a puddle that began taking form of a woman. There she stood before them, even then the pressure of her being was so strong that if she told someone to kneel, they would do it.

Without saying a word, she came before Jiraiya and slapped him across the face "That was for leaving a poor child on his own for so long" she said and released the pressure she was making. She went to Tsunade next "Aren't you Mito-chan's granddaughter. You don't look at all like her but still you resemble her so much." She said and ruffled Tsunade's hair. After all she was so old that for her Tsunade was like a child.

"As you can see, she's not a rampaging beast like everyone thinks. She's more human than any of you can imagine. Oh, and she has a name, it's Kurama." Naruto presented his tenant to everybody. Everybody was on the end of the rope. They learned too much tonight. Kurama preferred to go back to her house inside the seal for the night.

"All right let's go to sleep; we have to train me back into shape tomorrow. We have a week until Orochimaru comes back." Said Tsunade

"Speaking about training, can I ask you a favor Tsunade-sama?" asked Naruto settling for Tsunade-sama for the moment.

"What is it Naruto?"

"See Ino-chan learns to become a medic nin. But I can't teach her much more because I can't use iryo ninjutsu. Can you teach her a bit?"

"Consider it done as a payback into beating some sense into my thick skull. I will see what she can do tomorrow." Ino wanted to jump all around seeing that. It wasn't every day that an S rank ninja agreed to train you. Maybe if she was good enough, she would become her apprentice. She was salivating thinking about it.

"Everybody let's meet at this clearing at 7AM" said Jiraiya producing a map of the nearby land.

**Next day**

Ino woke up not feeling anyone in the bed. She looked everywhere for her source of heat, but he was nowhere to be found. She looked at a table in the room. There was a note that she read out loud "I went with Ero-sennin to train earlier to test something new and destructive. Didn't want to wake you up too early. Truly yours Naruto." On the bottom there was a chibi drawing of her sprawled on the bed.

She has gotten ready and knocked on the door of Tsunade's room checking if she was ready to go. The older blonde quit the room looking like a new person with determination in her eyes. Only Shizune wasn't in a good mood as she drank too much yesterday after everyone left.

They ran to the clearing where Jiraiya told them to meet today and have seen something crazy. Naruto and Jiraiya were sparring in the clearing where justsus and explosions were flying around. They stopped 200 meters away to observe the fight.

Jiraiya ran at Naruto to engage him in taijutsu combat. He limited himself to a point that he was slightly stronger than Naruto. Every punch was evaded, every kick blocked. No one was giving an opening to the other. Naruto decided that it was time to separate them. He created a shadow clone that used **Futon: Daitoppa **at Jiraiya to blast him away.

Jiraiya had just enough time to flip in the air while doing his own hand seals "**Doton: Yomi Numa**" he shouted to restrain Naruto's movements. Seeing his opponent struggling he charged two **Rasengan **in his hands and charged at Naruto.

Naruto prepared himself. He decided to use his new invention, he finally made a jutsu usable in close quarters combat without the necessity to charge it for so long. He spawned compressed balls of Yang over his head. When Jiraiya was in range he opened two of them one side "**Yang Volcano!**". It was the first step to great future techniques. He made the shell of the balls crack wherever he wanted spewing jets of pure Yang in this direction. Not really long range because the jets were wide, but the knockdown and surprise were great.

Jiraiya was fired away and began asking himself what would transform a young kid into such a monster. He wasn't sure for how long he would be able to hold back at the rate Naruto grew. He knew that Naruto would take this chance to strike him down.

He wasn't wrong, Naruto jumped taking a branch not wanting to use a sword at an ally. Using his kenjutsu style it was already enough. He posed himself in a similar way to fencing and shouted "**Eight stance: Dam Breaker!**". He thrust the branch faster and faster until it looked like he had a hundred hands all attacking at once. Jiraiya had to use **Hari Jizo** to block it and still he could feel the bruises from the attack.

When the onslaught finished, he said "Good job Naruto. We need to stop now; we have a gallery."

"Yeah I've sensed them too." He said.

They jumped to the spectating women. "Hello everyone, sorry we didn't see what time it was because of our little spar." Said Naruto

"Jiraiya come here I will heal the bruises." Said Tsunade. She never thought that she would heal his wounds out of her own volition any time soon. He showed her the places, thankfully there was no blood. Finishing she began speaking

"Okay everyone, I told you yesterday that Orochimaru will be coming in six days now. We need to be ready as we don't know what he will do that day. Ino you will come with me and Shizune for your training. Jiraiya I will borrow Naruto to get a sparring partner." Commanded Tsunade. It was her first little step to become worthy of her future position.

Jiraiya was feeling downtrodden, he was now alone since Tsunade took everyone with her. He wouldn't waste this time though. He has seen an onsen and a few fair ladies going inside. Giggling perversely, he ran unsealing his note pad and a spyglass.

At the same time Tsunade was talking to Naruto and Ino "You held back a lot during our spar Naruto."

"Yeah, most of my skills would pretty much obliterate the entire town even with the barrier Ero-sennin made. If I remember right, you held back as well didn't you."

"Yeah well, my punches couldn't destroy the town, but a few buildings would've been downed. No need for such destruction" Naruto wholeheartedly agreed with that. "Now Ino, what have Naruto taught you?"

"Medically wise he taught me **Shosen Jutsu**, I couldn't learn much more because my chakra reserves and control aren't good enough. That's what he's concentrating on right now." Ino answered

"Good start, what do you do in order to help it?"

"I make one **Kage Bunshin** and we do **Shosen Jutsu **and some chakra control exercises, I've just began kunai balancing, until my reserves are depleted. Then Naruto uses his Yang to reinvigorate me and expand my coils a bit." She answered

"Good, you will continue that yourself, you will send the clone with Shizune or myself, we will teach you what you need to know about anatomy and some Iryo jutsus. You can begin now." She said then she turned to Naruto.

"Naruto we'll need that ability of yours to expand coils to help us. We will train as long as we can that way."

"Tsunade-sama, there is one problem with that. Please don't take that badly but you are old." Tsunade wanted to punch the kid into the ground right now "Please listen to me before you do something. What I mean by that is that when people get older their chakra system gets less and less flexible. I can energize Ino about twenty times before it would make irreversible damage. Shizune-san about ten and you maybe five. If we continue that way Ji-chan could take at most one full tank before burning some of his chakra pathways to ash. Do you understand now?"

"This actually makes sense, but you forgot one thing, I might be rusty, but I still am a Kage level ninja. Even five uses should be enough to make me train for forty-eight hours straight." Said Tsunade

"This brings us to another problem; my recharging isn't a miracle. I had to train tirelessly to be able to use Yang as if it was nothing but in reality, it is a taxing source of energy. Every recharge takes a toll on the receiver. For example, Ino-chan can use **Shosen Jutsu **for over two hours straight, after ten recharges this goes down to one hour, at fifteen she was able to hold it for only fifteen minutes. See the pattern? Instead of forty-eight it comes down to maybe eighteen or sixteen." He said

That wasn't a problem for Tsunade, she didn't plan on doing something this extreme anyway, but she would regain hold of her old chakra reserves in a matter of four days if her math checked out.

"This is great anyway, now come on we should stop wasting the time. I want a snakeskin wallet in a few days. We will start with a spar." She said

**Time skip 5 days**

Naruto was sparring again with Tsunade for the last time before tomorrow's pause to let everyone be at full power. During this week the training was murderous for everyone, Naruto compared it to the hell week in the ANBU boot camp. At least such tortures brought great improvement. Naruto wasn't able to hold back against Tsunade anymore.

She was weaving punches left and right like when she was twenty years old. This was the true strength of ever becoming a true S-rank ninja. Your experience was so great that even a big hiatus in your ninja career could be reverted in a matter of a few weeks. Adding to that Naruto's revitalizing abilities it was shortened to a few days.

Thinking about the progress of his opponent Naruto had to use what he called **Bijuu Arms**. A technique from which he derived his claws made of Yang or Yin. Instead of making only gloves for the hands and a part of forearms it made whole sleeves that went all the way up and continued on his pecs. Making it look like he wore two demon arms connected in the middle.

If he wasn't using them, he wouldn't be able to fight on what he now called even grounds. They were far from even, it just meant that for every three super punches from Tsunade he landed about one of his Yang powered ones.

At the same time Shizune was teaching Ino. The girl was ecstatic, Shizune and Tsunade had taught her so much during this week. Most of it was about anatomy and chemistry but she still learned some jutsus from them. Namely two of them, **Chakra no Mesu **and **Dokugiri**. At last she was taught chakra control exercises that were made specially for the iryo-nins.

Even if Ino was happy about being a medic she felt she needed to pull more of her weight during fights. She has seen the battling styles of both Tsunade and Shizune and was amazed. Both of them were so different yet so strong.

In her eyes Tsunade was like an older, a tad more mature Naruto. She was an extrovert that could gain this serious mode she has seen in many highly skilled ninjas. She has seen her obliterating boulders with simple punches and make craters with kicks. That was amazing.

On the other side of the spectrum was Shizune. The calm and collected type. She didn't use Tsunade's strength, instead she used her intelligence, fast and beautiful assassination moves to incapacitate the opponent.

Ino thought about it for a long time and decided that she would become like Shizune. Not personality wise but in her battle style. Ino found it way more appealing to her feminine sense of beauty. When she spoke about it, Naruto told her she would become a real femme fatale when she became older making Ino blush.

Two days ago, she began fiddling with the idea to use **Chakra no Mesu** in an offensive way. From what she learned the technique didn't have to cut everything in its way. It could cut insides of a person without even grazing the skin. After talking a lot about it with the others if she could master it, she would become a true battle medic like the older beauties.

This would become the next step for her to become stronger. She would become the assassin of the team while Naruto was their vanguard. When this situation was over, she told Naruto to expect her more in his house. He quickly understood that she was talking about asking Anko for help with her training.

Shizune and Ino's lesson were cut short when a golden missile was sent their way. Looking at the impact crater they managed to see that it wasn't anyone other than Naruto. Soon after Tsunade jumped out from the forest trying to finish the job.

She was cocking her fist to strike at Naruto while descending. He wasn't sure if he was going to survive it in one piece his only option was to counterattack. Defending against this monster of a woman was particularly stupid. First, he needed to slow her down and break her form.

While getting up he formed the same balls that he used for **Yang Volcano**. This time they weren't made to crack. He began spinning them as fast as he could, it forced the balls into an oval shape. When she was at the right point he began firing more and more. "**Yang Bolts!"**. This was Naruto's attempt into making himself more 1v1 capable. This way he could always have the balls around him and shoot them anytime.

Tsunade was forced into stopping her attack to evade the missiles coming at her. She has seen what they could do to someone before. Boulders and trees had perfect holes when hit. She landed and sprinted at him in order to strike him.

He did the same still firing the arrows. They both cocked their fists which connected making an explosion like sound. Neither of them was budging. Finally, they relaxed, and their fists fell down with Naruto releasing **Bijuu Arms**.

"That will be enough for tonight. We were already going over the limits almost trying to kill each other." Said Tsunade

"Yeah, I really thought I would end worse than Ero-sennin when you caught him." Naruto said remembering the lump of meat that Jiraiya has become that time.

After saying sorry for disrupting the other two in their study everybody went to the hotel for the break everybody needed before the battle that would probably happen after tomorrow. Entering the Tsunade's room as in their habit to relax together they have seen Jiraiya with a stern face.

"Jiraiya, you are back." Said Tsunade

"Yes, and with bad news. I went to talk with my spy about anything strange things happening in the place. If I was right Orochimaru would have to be in vicinity in order to come back for you and he apparently is… but not alone. He has an army with him around five to seven hundred men, ranked from chunin to jonin." He replied

Ino was feeling as if she was right back in Wave when they were told about the battle. This time it was probably better than before though, Naruto could go all out from the beginning. The problem was there weren't any natural defenses where they would meet so there was no possibility to take cover or slow them permanently.

Naruto seeing Ino slightly panic about this patted her head with a smile "Like last time, don't worry I will protect you if anything happens." This earned him a grin from everyone else. That was the reality of being in love when so young. At least it relaxed the mood.

"Naruto, if you can get a clean shot how many can you take down as fast as you can?" said Jiraiya already forming plans in his head.

"This depends on many factors. First it will be an open battle on a plain, most of my missions were made so at least the first attack was an ambush. Second you will be with me on the field, if I use something too widespread, I could hit you…" he stopped himself abruptly as if he was having an internal talk. That he did but not with himself but with his tenant.

"_Kura-chan, do you think I'm ready to use that?"_

"_**Maybe twice at maximum, if something happens remember what I told you."**_

"I might have something to take them all out. Not guaranteed to work but it's our best shot to make you fight only Orochimaru." Naruto said cryptically

"What do you mean?" said Tsunade

"The attack draws a lot of force from me. I won't be able to fire it more than twice. Second if something goes wrong everybody will hear about it, controlling this technique is so difficult that if I can't do it, I will destroy far more than wanted." He said.

"Will count on you to control it Naruto" said Jiraiya, maybe it was risky, but this fight needed to be ended soon after it began so they can kill Orochimaru once and for all. "Now listen everybody, besides Orochimaru and his army there is also someone else. His face is veiled so I don't know who is he but he's at least a jonin level ninja."

"Yes, there was someone with him when he came to talk with me last time." Said Tsunade

"Exactly. The plan is simple. Naruto you unleash your cannons at them. When it's over we will use the shock to engage Orochimaru and this other man. Hime, you and I will take Orochimaru. Shizune, you, Ino and Naruto will take the other guy. If you get him fast enough come help us." Said Jiraiya. After that everyone went to bed not wanting to be in a bad shape in less than forty-eight hours.

**Time skip day of the battle**

Everyone was present at the destined place awaiting Orochimaru. They were prepared and sure that everyone would come back alive from that. Ino was the only one feeling out her place. Everybody around her had this aura of battle mode. It wasn't every day that you could see two S ranks and two A ranks in one place getting ready to fight.

Orochimaru came at last with the veiled man at his right. He smirked and began talking

"Kukuku, I see that you aren't the only one to come Tsunade."

"Yes, and to tell you that I don't accept your deal!" she shouted at him

"You think like you had any choice in this deal Tsunade. You will come with me or you will all die. **Kuchiyose no Jutsu**" he slammed his hands on the ground and his army appeared behind him. Four people came closer and kneeled. They were looking different from the people in the army. One of them even had two heads.

Naruto didn't waste this moment of pause. It was his time to strike the army and terror in Orochimaru's heart. Everybody positioned themselves on his side like he instructed them before. First his **Bijuu Arms** appeared. He began producing more and more power until his hair let loose and floated on the chakra. Soon two wings like constructs emerged from his back and planted themselves into the ground.

Everyone was amazed at the power Naruto was showing, it wasn't every day that a teen could do such a thing. He pushed both his arms to the front and began pushing more Yang towards them as it wasn't safe to do it with Yin. Golden concentric rings began appearing around his arms and in front of him. They were glowing brighter and brighter until Naruto finished charging his attack.

The circles all collided together, and all hell broke loose. "**Angel of Death!**" he shouted. The wings from his back were now like cutters digging deep into the earth, if someone measured how far he could go down to fifty meters. The real art was before him though. He shot a cylindrical beam before him so large and bright that nobody could see anything. Then the glow stopped.

Those who weren't hit could finally see what happened. There was a trench dug so far that nobody could see the end from their position. The army that was supposed to be there was evaporated. Everybody was looking at the huffing Naruto in fear, even his comrades. If he ever wanted to destroy a village himself, he should be able to do so in a few years.

Orochimaru was the most shocked one. If someone told him that all these men would be obliterated by one attack from a thirteen-year-old child, he would first laugh then kill them. Now he was missing a chunk of his army as well as three of his guards. Only Tayuya was living now as she was the only one on his right with the man before.

He finally got over his shock to get into another one when he wanted to use a jutsu only to see his left arm missing at the shoulder. He couldn't regenerate from that, there was no way and his next vessel wouldn't be ready in less than one month. He needed to get out of here.

"Fuck, we are retreating. Fast get me out of here! Tayuya you stay here and cover our retreat." Orochimaru shouted in panic. He couldn't die here. The veiled man took hold of his master and sprinted to the place where the return seal was ready.

Tsunade wanted to stop them from running but Tayuya interfered being able to block one strike from the Sannin only to get knocked out. This one strike was enough to give Orochimaru the time to reverse summon himself to his base.

When everyone else got out from their shock from what they have seen they looked around for Naruto. He was sprawled on the ground breathing heavily. If the attack didn't touch Orochimaru the situation would have been much worse.

Ino ran to him "Help, he can't move!" she shouted using all of her medical expertise to see what is going on with him. Soon Tsunade joined to diagnose him.

"He's going to be all right. He strained his chakra pathways too much and now can't move because of that." She said with a huge relief. She took him on her back to get him back to the hotel to let him heal.

"Jiraiya-sama what should we do about the girl?" asked Shizune

"Take her with you, she seemed to be at least important in Orochimaru's schemes. She may have some valuable info." He said.

Shizune didn't ask any questions and took the girl on her back since she was out. They would have to examine her later. Tsunade still had the not well looking Naruto on her back and was thinking that her early diagnostic was false. She needed to scan him once again when they were in the hotel. It was their first objective for the afternoon.

They ran as fast as they could. Jiraiya didn't waste time as he applied chakra restraining seals on the girl unknowingly saving her life. They opened the doors to Tsunade's room who laid Naruto on her bed. Everyone was still freaking out about what they have seen the kid do. Ino was proven once again that the male blonde wasn't only her teddy bear.

Tsunade was scanning Naruto who was looking worse and worse. "Fuck, I was only half right the first time. He does have a chakra exhaustion, but it was so big that his chakra system is in rebound. He used so much that he went into overdrive to produce enough to hold him alive. We need to get him to stop, Shizune make a cold bath. Ino get as much ice as you can from the hotel."

When Ino ran, Tsunade didn't care for the boy's intimacy. She took off his clothes not even flinching and threw him into the tub that was filling with water. Ino came back with a clone carrying two basins of ice that she threw into the bath and ran for more.

Tsunade scanned him once again "At least the rate isn't growing, or he would have become a real bomb. Shizune help me stabilize the production!" The two medics began working on Naruto's chakra gates seeing that the pressure was slowly forcing them open.

Two hours later Naruto ended this overdrive with the help of Tsunade, Shizune and Ino who worked relentlessly on him. He began shaking and became blue from the ice-cold water, luckily Jiraiya has already prepared a bed for him to warm up to a normal temperature.

When he warmed up, he finally opened his eyes. "What's going on? Where am I?" he asked. He didn't have the time to get his surroundings when someone slapped him across the face to later bring him into a huge hug.

"You scared us so much Naruto-kun! We weren't sure if you were going to make it." She broke down from all those pent-up emotions. Naruto slowly hugged her back.

"I'm sorry Ino-chan, everyone." He fucked up big time, he knew it would happen if tried to tame the technique after it went out of control. Everyone was silent for a moment until Jiraiya asked it was time to get some answers.

"Naruto, what was that thing?! First you destroy an army and take out the snake's hand to then go into a critical state."

"It happens when I go at full power. The jutsu can be a double-edged sword if I lose control and it did happen. I didn't want to worry you all because there were two possible outcomes if I lost control of it. First, I become a bomb, second, I try to tame it with all my strength, and this happens." He said with a low voice ashamed of making everyone scarred for him.

Everyone here wasn't sure what to think about it. He should've said that something like that could happen but then he let them not fight Orochimaru and in the end saved them.

"What was that though?" Jiraiya asked once again

"It was my **Angel of Death**. It takes the **Bijuu Canon **to unbelievable levels. Instead of a wave of Yang it fires at once a huge cylinder that erases everything in its path from the heat inside. You can compare it to the Kekkei Tota of the Tsuchikage. The wings you saw aren't here just to support me, they work as radiators for the Yang that is superfluous. Hence the name." he said hoisting himself to his arms in the bed.

"I forbid you from ever using it again before you are older and are sure that you can control it, or you are forced to. I do it as your doctor and friend Naruto." Said Tsunade not ever wanting to deal with such a case ever again.

"I understand."

"Now, since I bet you don't really know what happened after let's do a small briefing. First you evaporated Orochimaru's army and his left arm. You happened to take out some people that he trusted apparently as well. Three out of four exactly as he ditched the last one to make an escape. She's our prisoner now." Said Jiraiya

"Did you get anything out of her?" asked Naruto.

"Nothing, she's still out because of Tsunade's punch and nobody had the time to heal her as you were close to exploding quite literally."

Naruto bowed his head as low as the bed let him "Ino-chan, Shizune-san, Tsunade-sama thank you for saving my life. Even after I said that I would protect yours Ino-chan."

"Baka, you saved our lives first after all." Ino said giving him head pats.

"Thank you." Said Naruto getting closer to Ino.

"Before you kids make out, we need to heal the girl and ask her what she knows." Said Tsunade making the kids separate with a blush at the idea of making out in front of all these people.

Tsunade went to the room next door and brought their new charge. She was a fourteen-year-old, red haired girl with a hard looking face. She was bound by ninja wire and had the chakra blocking seal. Because of that they didn't have any other possibility to wake her up than manually since it blocked chakra from outside as well. That was by giving her a light slap on the face until she woke.

"What the flying fuck? What's going on in here? Unbind me you shitheads!" the girl said with the people around being surprised by her "large" vocabulary.

"What's your name?" asked Jiraiya not giving a shit about what the girl said.

"And why would I tell you, you shitstain?" she said making Jiraiya sigh. He really didn't want to resort to violence after what happened earlier.

"Okay listen, I don't want to hurt you… at least for now. If you answer the questions out of your own will I won't use anything against you." He said. She thought about it for a bit, Orochimaru has already abandoned her and probably thought that she was dead or use the seal on her neck to kill her in a few hours max. It wouldn't hurt to at least get the pedophile back before she was dead.

"I'm Tayuya." She said

"Now we can begin some interactions. Who were you to Orochimaru?"

"We were called Sound Four, we were Orochimaru's guards until the blondie over there decimated them and you took me prisoner." She said looking at Naruto in bed.

"Why are you answering so easily?" Naruto asked feeling something weird about this girl.

"Because why not? I will be dead in a few hours anyway. Orochimaru doesn't let any loose ends, he will use the Curse Seal on my neck to kill me so why not get back at him in the least before I'm dead. I'm asking myself why did he not use it before?" She said being ready to die at any moment.

"That's probably because of the seal I put on you, he may already think you are dead. The seal I put on you blocks any chakra from going in or out so he must see it as you are being dead." Said Jiraiya.

"Hahaha, who would've thought that being taken prisoner would save my life." She laughed dryly "Doesn't matter to me anyway. If you take it off, he will kill me. Or you don't take it off and I finish in a prison anyway…" she said.

"What if I told you that I can take the Curse Seal off?" said Naruto

"What do you mean by take the seal off, Naruto? I couldn't do it and I'm a seal master so how did you do it?!" asked Jiraiya

"By taking it off, I meant quite literally erasing it. Anko-nee had one as well and I erased it from her with a clever use of Yin and Yang when I was eight. It shouldn't be a big problem right now." Said Naruto

"But how do you do it exactly?" asked Jiraiya once again

"The simplest answer to that would be to see it at work. But since I can't do it right now, I will give you the best explanation I can. The Yin can dissolve everything, it's so dangerous that I almost never use it when my allies are near. I use it to dissolve the seal on a chakra level erasing it. The problem is that it would harm the potential target and especially in the neck region it is dangerous. To go around it I make a vessel around the seal with Yang where my Yin can float freely without affecting the target." He said. Jiraiya found it so simple yet so marvelous, a person who can destroy any kind of seal.

Meanwhile Tayuya was listening to the conversation. She wasn't believing what she was hearing. This guy who was younger than her was talking about destroying the seal Orochimaru was so proud of as if he was talking about the weather.

"Blondie don't give me such shit. I don't believe you can do such things." She said outraged

"I would be kinder to someone that proposes to help you, you know. Ero-sennin can you make a seal on paper, something I'm sure not to know. I will give you all a small presentation, a seal on paper should be okay even with my chakra still fluctuating."

Jiraiya nodded and lit a candle. He took out a scroll and used **Fuka Hoin** to seal the flame of the candle. He gave his godson the scroll wanting to see the seal destroying in action. Naruto put his back against the wall and posed the scroll on his lap. He covered his right hand in Yang and touched the paper. The thin golden outline appeared around every kanji and sign. When he deemed it ready, he poured Yin inside the vessel. The seal began disappearing and soon a blank scroll was left.

"And that's how you do it. It's so much easier now as I have a much better control." He said showing the scroll to everybody.

"Naruto how many people know about it?" Jiraiya asked

"Now? At most Anko-nee, Yugao-nee, Kurenai-nee and Ji-chan. Why?"

"It's better to keep it that way. Your ability could become problematic fast, like real fast. Your ability to open seals could make you a target for everyone even inside the village."

"Like Danzo who wants the **Hiraishin**?" asked Naruto

"How do you know about it?"

"Simple, I spoke with Ji-chan already. I half violated the oath I've given to my parents to never learn it. I asked Kura-nee to put it in the last mind gate. I am the only source to know the **Hiraishin** right now as we burned the scroll with Ji-chan. Don't worry, we already thought about the consequences of this ability."

"Naruto, right? What would be the price to take off the seal?" Tayuya asked breaking everyone else from their talks.

"See much better, no need to be vulgar. Let's make a deal, you appeared to be important to Orochimaru, you tell us everything you know, and I take off the seal. I will even present you an olive branch, if you tell us all, and trust me I will know if you do, I will pass a word to the Hokage, so you don't finish in prison." Naruto said with a smile.

For Tayuya it was a no-brainer, she already wanted to tell them everything. The last part was unnerving her "Do you really know the Hokage enough for it to matter?"

"Well do I Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked Tsunade with a grin. Tayuya was gob smacked every time she asked something. This lady was the Hokage?

"I think you do Naruto. After all you know both me and the Sandaime quite well." She answered

"I'll tell you everything. Can you just take off the bindings please? I won't run, not like I have anywhere to run anyway." Jiraiya wanted to protest but Naruto interrupted him.

"Ero-sennin can you do it for me? I can sense she's telling the truth and she even added a please. With her vulgar nature I think it is an exploit."

Jiraiya sighed and did it. The sensing abilities of the blonde were always right, there was no way in hell to trick him. He undid her bindings and the girl massaged her wrists.

"Ino-chan listen closely, as an heir to the Yamanaka clan you will probably end working in the T&I. This will be your first true questioning. You are lucky that the prisoner wants to answer out of her own volition." Said Naruto. Ino nodded and positioned herself on the bed to listen closely and watch the girl for any signs of lying.

"First question: How do you become a guard for Orochimaru" asked Naruto seeing that nobody else was beginning.

"We were prisoners at first. Then he would put us in battle royals until only one survived. The winners would be trained to death and back, then he would brand us with the seal. Those who survived became part of the Sound Five." She answered.

"If you were to gauge your loyalty to Orochimaru before he abandoned you from one to ten?" asked Ino trying to become a part of the interrogation.

"When you work for Orochimaru you are loyal to him by fear and terror. So, when he or his right hand was near it was a ten. Anywhere else I would run away if I could so you can say a one." This was a good sign for everyone.

"What Orochimaru wanted me to work on?" asked Tsunade

"He wanted you to produce a living body for him that he could take over. It was made so he could put as many Kekkei Genkai inside one. The ultimate goal was to put inside the Sharingan. Since it failed, he will probably try to kidnap the Uchiha in your village." She said

The questioning continued for hours and Tayuya answered every question she knew answers for diligently. From the locations of the bases to his new projects and what he will do about his arm. Until they didn't have any more questions, but she told them something else.

"I think you need to learn something else; the snake wants to invade your village. He's going to kill the Kazekage and pose as the man to use both his and Wind's army to attack. Probably during the chunin exams that happen in three months."

The room became silent hearing that. Jiraiya didn't waste any time, he wrote a letter to the Hokage and send it through his toad. They would extend their trip to train as much as they could to make sure that they could defend the village.

"Do you know any specifics?" Naruto asked to which she only shook her head.

"I think this is enough to give her amnesty Hime." Said Jiraiya to which Tsunade nodded. If the redhead didn't say it, they would have been in a lot of trouble. Tsunade nodded making Tayuya smile for the very first time in a long time.

"I'm not Hokage yet but this will be first decree. Tayuya of the Sound, now only Tayuya. You are hereby given amnesty. You will be under constant ANBU watch for the moment though. Ushi you will be charged of that."

Naruto only groaned, pulling so many strings would surly bite him in the ass one day. "Hai Hokage-sama". Tayuya couldn't believe that such a kid could be a part of ANBU, but then she remembered what he has done to Orochimaru before.

"Ero-sennin can you make a room that blocks any chakra from outside? That way we will be sure that when we take the seal off her Orochimaru won't know." asked Naruto

"Yes, it will take one day at least."

"Perfect, we will take off your seal then." He said to Tayuya. Ino was feeling jealous of the girl. Naruto sensed it and taken her in a hug from behind

"Is my Ino-chan jealous of me helping another girl? You know better than that that I will never cheat or exchange you." He said in her ear which made Ino relax.

**Time skip 1 month**

After receiving the mail from Jiraiya, Hiruzen let them to take a one-month training trip. He wasn't fast enough and Rasa was probably already dead. The village was stable now, first there were outbursts from the civilians about the civilian council. Hiruzen calmed them down by making the papers public about how the civilian council not only stole from the shinobi but also from the civilian themselves.

Everybody grew stronger during this trip. Having two kage level ninjas would do that to everyone. Naruto grew much more proficient with his one versus one skill able to trade one for two punches with Tsunade. His taijutsu and kenjutsu became so much better that new mind gates opened. At last he could use eighteen of thirty-six stances of his kenjutsu.

The biggest improvement was shown in Ino out of everyone else. She became much more proficient in her medical studies but her fighting as well. Her experiment with **Chakra no Mesu **bear fruits. She was able to make the scalpels from every finger giving her twenty-centimeter claws. She asked Naruto to show her his taijutsu since it would perfectly with this ability which he happily instructed; she was more or less a family now. Her stealth became much better as well since she wanted to become an assassin with help of Naruto and Jiraiya. Gauging her skills she could easily become a chunin now.

Tayuya was surprised when they trained her as well. Weren't they scared of her being an enemy anymore? Oh, right Naruto could sense she wasn't. They didn't have a genjutsu master with them but her taijutsu was upped a few pegs. They managed as well to curb her filthy mouth. Some fucks and shits still escaped her, but she forced herself to at least not insult new people out of the blue.

Her wardrobe changed as well. She couldn't walk around in her Oto clothes anymore. Ino decided to help her new friend in this aspect as she was the fashion queen. She was still jealous of the girl until Tayuya told her that she was thankful, but she had no feelings for the blonde. She as wearing now a yellow battle kimono with flowery patterns with a red obi matching her hair that was now left loose. Ino agreed with Naruto now when he said that he thought that every kunoichi was at least pretty.

The group just entered the village, and everyone was making a tunnel for the newcomers. Naruto felt like the stares he received were fewer and less offensive. Wondering what happened an ANBU descended to them.

"Hokage-sama awaits you in his office at once." He said and **Shunshinned **the rest didn't wait for long before doing the same. Hiruzen was awaiting everybody with a huge smile. He could at last take his long-awaited retirement.

"Long time no see Sensei." Said Tsunade with a smile

"Indeed Tsunade, indeed. I see that you are much better than before."

"Yeah I had someone knock some sense into me" she said ruffling Naruto's hair

Hiruzen became sterner and turned to the new arrival to his village "I'm guessing you are Tayuya. Normally I would send you to prison for working with the snake…" he paused there making everyone nervous "but you gave us vital information as well Naruto vouched for you. You will stay under ANBU watch, namely Naruto here. I think you have a spare room for her don't you Naruto?" he said smirking a Naruto

"Hai, Hokage-sama" he said with a sigh.

"Tsunade we will talk about your inauguration later, now Tora please let the Team 10 enter." Asuma, Shikamaru and Choji entered the office. They greeted the other people in the room and Hiruzen coughed gathering their attention.

"Team 10, since Sakura isn't a ninja any longer, I have a replacement. As you know the chunin exams will happen in two months as well what may happen. Tayuya here will become a part of your team for this time so you can compete. Tayuya I know you are far from being a genin, but we need them to compete that's why you will be on their team."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." She answered, this wasn't much for her freedom.

"Okay Team 10 we are going out, you need to learn about each other, and we can't waste time." Said Asuma

"Team 7 members you are excused as well. Sasuke has been released this week and is under constant watch of Kakashi and other ANBU. They should be at the training ground 7. You shall go and meet them." Said the remaining Sarutobi. Naruto took Ino's hand and quit the premises of the office.

"Now since all these small matters are done, we shall discuss about you _Godaime-dono_" Hiruzen said taking a puff from his pipe.

_**End chapter 6**_

**AN: Thanks for reading**


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, I wouldn't have to go through college. Every character belongs to Kishimoto unless they are my own OCs.

**AN: Sorry everybody, this fic hasn't died. I just had a rough time in real life, depression and stuff. Every time I had a tougher time, I came back to the reviews some of you have left. You guys helped me out in my hard moments. Thank you. I reread my fic once or twice and I need to seriously expand my vocabulary because I repeat "strange" too many times.**

"Talk"

"_Thoughts"_

"**Bijuu, summons"**

**Jutsu**

Naruto and Ino arrived finally at the training ground 7 in order to find the rest of their team. They took the long road because something was odd to Naruto. Why have the villagers been less oppressive than before? He would have to ask the Hokage about it.

Kakashi was waiting for them at the entrance alone eye smiling at the pair. He had to babysit the Uchiha alone for almost a week and this was getting on his nerves. The kid didn't learn anything by being sent into a prison cell.

"Naruto, Ino you are finally here, thank goodness, I might have killed or maimed Sasuke if I was the only one to watch him." He said elated seeing his two preferred students.

"Hey Kakashi/ Kakashi-sensei." They said in unison with Ino letting Naruto's hand go. "Should you really talk like that about our 'teammate'?" Naruto said while laughing.

"He's not a teammate anymore Naruto, Ino. He became now a mission objective, he's far from being stable enough to be a ninja anymore. The problem is that even if the civilian council was eradicated the civilians still see him as a prince of this village. Hokage-sama said to keep him at least until the end of the chunin exams, his name alone should bring enough customers during the event." Said Kakashi

Naruto and Ino understood the meaning behind the words "Are you sure it's a good idea, we are facing a possible invasion. Is it safe to encourage possible customers?" asked Ino.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, normally it would have been Naruto who remarked that. Apparently, the month away wasn't in vain for the duo. "Normally it would be, but we can't do anything else but invite them anyway or Orochimaru would be suspicious. We invited the Mizukage as well, she will come knowing the dangers as well."

They both nodded, they only have a short time to train effectively to make themselves as useful as possible. Ino was already accepted as a part time apprentice of Tsunade, she would develop her support skills as well as fighting. She had to pull her weight and more from now on.

Naruto on the other side was having a bad feeling about this invasion. Something felt off "Kakashi, I don't want to be pessimistic, but something bothers me. Suna will be one of the attackers and from what I remember their Jinchuuriki is a genin. If they put him in the exam…"

"…then he will be able to attack the village from inside. We need to contact Hokage-sama about it later." finished Kakashi, this spelled trouble. "Now we should go to Sasuke, he has the seal in place if you ever need to activate it it's this seal. Naruto, he knows about us so no need to hold back anymore during fights." He said showing them a modified tiger seal.

They both nodded and followed Kakashi to the clearing where Sasuke was hitting a tree. He looked worse than before, probably because in the ANBU prison someone played with him. Ino could feel from far away that Sasuke wasn't sane anymore.

"Alright everybody we will have some spars to judge where you are right now. I will take you on to measure your skills then I will pair you up if we have enough time. Sasuke you are up." He would never tell Sasuke about the invasion, but he still had to train him so at least the boy would survive for being a breeding stock.

Sasuke was happy hearing that, a creepy type of happy. He would show them he was still the strongest ninja in all Konoha. This overestimation of himself would kill him one day or at least maybe. For now, his opponent wouldn't destroy him.

Kakashi took out his orange book, Sasuke's muscles were atrophied from being in prison for so long. The duck-butt was furious seeing the act and ran straight at his teacher. He cocked his right hand only to be evaded and kicked away.

He gathered his thoughts; such simple attacks would never hit the jonin. He needed a plan to kill him. He ran at him once again trying to asses any possibility. This time his attacks weren't made to kill but to gauge the strength of his opponent.

He began an exchange with Kakashi trying to hit him at least once. Putting more and more strength behind his attacks when he has seen that his opponent couldn't dodge them. Kakashi on the other side decided to close his favorite orange book to show some power against Sasuke.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. His only possibility was lost now since he was paying attention to him. His attacks were missing and every time it happened, he was punished for overextending by a kick or a punch to the ribs.

Kakashi sent him flying with one of the kicks. Sasuke gracefully flipped in the air making hand seals, he used **Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu** to make Kakashi evade his attacks not being able to prepare a counter.

He covered Kakashi's vision with the last bullet and took out one kunai. He ran through the fire as an element of surprise. He stabbed at his sensei feeling the taste of victory in his mouth only for his hand to be grabbed and being thrown away.

"That's enough, Ino you are next." He said nonchalantly.

Ino wanted to skip through to the place until Naruto caught her hand. She turned around looking at the blonde. He was showing her the motion for 'come let me tell you something'. He made it look like he was going to whisper something to her. He kissed her cheek and whispered, "Good luck."

Ino was blushing at what happened. Now she could win against any foe receiving such encouragement. For the outsiders it was just a simple kiss on the cheek, but she knew that it was a huge step for Naruto. She ran to Kakashi gradually changing her demeanor. She didn't have the aura of a veteran yet, but she learned how to enter the ninja or battle mode.

She took the stance Naruto taught her, it was the basic-intermediate stance, but it was enough for her level; she still had time to train and become stronger. Kakashi has seen it from the beginning, he cast a glance at Naruto who only smiled from the distance.

Kakashi didn't dare taking his book out now, this style was too dangerous, she would exploit any hole he had in defense.

"Kakashi-sensei what are the limits of the spar?" she asked

"Try to kill me, I need to see what you learned during this time away." He answered

She grinned a smile that he didn't like. It was the same smile Naruto had when he wanted to torture someone. She used **Chakra no Mesu** from each finger, making it look like she now had twenty-centimeter nails ready to cut through steel.

She didn't wait for the sign to begin, he told her to try and kill him after all. She threw a smoke bomb at his location and followed suit when the screen was dense enough. He still had his hitai-ate on his left eye. His field of view was narrower at this side.

She could probably use this trick only once and she had to make it count. The stealth lessons from Naruto and Jiraiya paid off now. She closed the distance in the smoke without any sounds and attacked.

Kakashi didn't like what was happening, if he guessed right, he couldn't block her claws, or his hands would fall. He would have to evade it. Looking around he felt something. She improved by a lot; he could sense her KI just now. It was at that exact moment that she struck at him trying to end it in one hit.

He evaded it but still a claw grazed his arm. He jumped out of the smoke trying to assess the surroundings and the damage done. Luckily it was just a skin graze, she couldn't cut him deeper.

Ino was frustrated in the smoke, her ambush didn't work and now she would have to go into an open fight. She was fighting a jonin after all. She ran to the place where he jumped out. He was waiting for her in a battle stance.

She ran at him trying to stay as much as possible on his left side. This was a good tactic, but he had this weakness for longer that his students were alive. He learned to get around this without the use of his Sharingan.

He decided to use her claws against her. From what he has seen she could only use them from her fingers and the length was set all the time. Her reach was too long for someone of her stature. He closed the distance between them making it harder for her trying to use her oversized claws.

It was this moment that Ino was waiting for. Naruto has taught her some advanced moves from his taijutsu to cover these weaknesses. They were special break off moves that used knees and elbows to create some distance. She swung her right elbow in an uppercut like motion barely missing Kakashi's chin.

The grey-haired man was stunned when he has seen her do that. He was glad that she missed or that would hurt a lot. That was until he saw his vest open and a trickle of blood escaping his chest to which Ino smirked still in her stance. He noticed that her elbows were now faintly glowing blue.

He relaxed and said "Enough, I've seen enough of that. Now can you explain how you managed that with only your elbows?" he asked pointing to his chest.

"It's quite easy sensei. You see the elbow is already a hard point and I can use **Chakra no Mesu** already from fingers. Naruto and Tsunade-sama told me about the weakness that you tried to exploit. So, we found that the next step would be to be able to do this jutsu from other parts of the body. It's still far from perfect but it's at least usable." She explained.

Kakashi could only stare at the girl. She has grown so much from the beginning of this team. She would surely become a role model for many young girls in the future. He smiled at her and told her to go to the sidelines.

At the same time Sasuke was fuming, Kakashi was acknowledging her by fighting her without the book in his hand. And even then, she managed to hit him. How could he kill his brother if she was already stronger than himself?

"Naruto you are up, I want to see what you have learned this month. Try not to destroy this area please." Pleaded Kakashi with an eye smile knowing Naruto's destructive tendencies.

Naruto was on his way to his ANBU brethren when he crossed a very happy Ino on her way back to the side. She gave him her own kiss on the cheek with a good luck. She was blushing madly at what she has done. It was peculiar to her that it was flustering her more than sleeping in the same bed as him.

Naruto stood in front of Kakashi. "Intent to kill?" he asked

"Intent to kill. But I will respond with my own and we will limit the fight to two minutes." Kakashi said showing his red eye from the start.

Naruto didn't waste any time and decided to play a psychological game. He summoned his **Bijuu Arms** as well as a swarm of chakra balls over his head. They began spinning and Naruto started shooting them at Kakashi one by one.

Kakashi on the other side was feeling that ordering him to fight with the intent to kill was too much. He was running everywhere possible trying to evade the shots. He was thanking Obito right now for leaving him the Sharingan or he would be dead by now.

The onslaught finally ended when Naruto had only five balls left over his head. He took his preferred stance and ran at Kakashi who took out two kunais.

A huge taijutsu battle was going on between the two. Naruto was trying to annihilate his friend's head with the extreme powered punches while Kakashi was weaving jutsus trying to outsmart the blonde.

After two minutes the timer rang making the two stop mid strike with Naruto's hand millimeters from Kakashi's face and Kakashi's **Chidori **so close to Naruto's shoulder that he could feel his hair standing from the electricity in the air.

"You've improved Naruto, finally resolving some of your issues about your close quarters potential. How much were you holding back?"

"You've improved as well Kakashi, you made me keep up almost at the same level that Ero-sennin does. And well I have some techniques that I preferred keeping to myself for the time being." He said.

Sasuke on the side was ready to blow a gasket. He was just shown how much he had to get stronger. He has just seen how true ninja fight and he wasn't even a speck of dust in this world. He would never say it himself because of his god complex though. The next thing that he was mad about was that he couldn't steal anything from his teammates since all their jutsus were seal less and Kakashi was too fast.

Kakashi motioned everybody to come to him and began talking. "I'm really proud of you, in this short time you have grown a lot. Especially you Ino, you've come such a long way. Now we are about two months away from the next Chunin Exams in which you will be participating. Normally it would've been your own decision but because of the higher ups you guys need to join them." He told them making Ino smile from the praise and Naruto patted her head as if she was a kid.

"Now I know that it will be unusual but, our training regimen will change. Some of you became apprentices to some people- he said eying Ino and Naruto-. We will see each other every three days and you are to train in whatever you want on the other days. After all, if you compare the team to a chain, the teamwork would be the welding of the links but, even if the welding is perfect the chain is weak if each link is weak. That's why I need you to improve as much as you can when training alone. You are dismissed until in three days." He finished and took out his orange book leaving them alone as a new ANBU took Sasuke back to his home arrest.

That only left Naruto and Ino in the training ground. They decided to go home as they haven't been there in ages. First though Naruto accompanied Ino home as he was taught to do by his sisters. Before she left him, she gave him once again a kiss on his cheek. Naruto would've been happy, but he promptly felt a shiver down his spine. Looking around he found Inoichi looking at him from behind the blinds in one of the windows.

He decided he had enough sightseeing for today and **Shunshinned **home. He felt many presences inside. Opening the door, he screamed "Anko-nee I'm home!" and took off his boots and walked to the place from which he heard some people talking, namely the kitchen.

All his sisters were around the table in the kitchen talking with a cup of coffee in their hands. When he went inside the three women turned to face him.

"Hello Naruto/Naruto-kun/Naru-chan." Said Anko, Kurenai and Yugao in this particular order. She always tried to embarrass him calling him that.

"Hey Anko-nee, Nai-nee, Yugao-nee."

"Finally back from the mission, huh?" asked Anko even if Naruto could see a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Yeah I will finally be able to sleep in my own bed…" he said

"Alone?" asked Kurenai with a grin. Apparently, the kissing during earlier training has spread like fire.

"Probably not. The true question is clothed or not?" he asked making Kurenai a bit red by being outpaced by her little brother.

"Naruto you are too young to do such things!" she blurted out

"I'm kidding Kurenai-nee. We barely kiss each other on the cheek and are red like tomatoes. It will take a lot of time before we get any further." He assured his sister.

"Now how was the mission, Naruto?" asked Anko

"Oh, you know, found the new Hokage, beat some sense into her. Destroying an army, ripping an arm of a certain snake and forcing our cartographers to make changes to the maps. Like usual." He said, pouring himself some coffee into a cup.

The ladies could only laugh at the way he told about it. This kid was such a handful. He can't manage a simple relationship between two teenagers with a budding love for each other. Yet at the same time he could destroy whatever he wanted with almost no sweat. That was until the information about a certain snake clicked in their brains.

Anko came closer to Naruto and bent a little bit to be at his eye level. She noticed how much less she had to do it now since he has grown up so much from the scrawny kid she met a few years ago. "Care to explain exactly what you mean by ripping an arm of a certain snake?"

"Heh, sit down Anko-nee. It will take some time." He sat down as well with the ladies intently watching him. "It all began when we met Tsunade-sama…" he continued his tale

**Meanwhile with Tsunade**

Tsunade finished telling her tale about what has happened during her absence and what happened with Orochimaru. Many bottles of sake and grams of tobacco were drunk and smoked by the occupants of the room.

"And here we are sitting in this room, that would conclude this entire story." She said taking another sip.

Hiruzen took a puff of smoke trying to get his head around what he heard about his grandson's and students' deeds during this trip. He would have to change all of the maps of Hi no Kuni because of that. He was glad that someone was going to replace him soon.

"I really should get Naruto in control or else he will do something stupid like that once again. Anyway, I'm glad you are back Tsunade. The village was in a need of a new era and a woman's touch for a long time. Have you decided what will be your first decree when you take the hat?"

It was a tradition for every newly appointed Hokage to declare a new decree during their inauguration ceremony to the village. Tsunade didn't have the time to think about it during this entire month since it was either training with Naruto and Jiraiya or training Ino. Even though she always had a certain dream.

"From what Naruto has told me the level at the academy has been lowered because of the not existing civilian council anymore. I will review the classes, so we produce quality shinobi that won't die on their first mission while still being able to let civilians pass. Of course, that will include basic medicine. It would have saved a lot of people during the war."

Hiruzen was happy hearing about it. She would begin the transition for the new era of the leaf.

"I see, let's not fret anymore about it. We still have a lot of sake to drink and many years to recall." Hiruzen said changing the mood in his office. They wouldn't have gone home until very late at night.

**Back to Naruto**

"And then we came back to the village. Sorry I couldn't kill him Nee-chan." Naruto said a bit down.

"Don't worry about it Gaki. It's already a beginning of something and the fact that you sent him cowering brought me a smile. Now I just need to interrogate this prisoner that you took until she spills all the secrets." She said to which Naruto gulped.

"About the prisoner…"

"Yeah what about her?"

"She was given amnesty by the Jiji for already spilling all the secrets and…"

"And?" Anko felt she wasn't going to be happy about the answer she was going to get.

"JijisetmeasherANBUwatcherandshewillbelivingwithus." He said it as fast as he could.

"Want to repeat that much slower Gaki." She said daring him to confirm what she understood.

"Jiji set me as her ANBU watch and she will be living with us until after the invasion. Please Anko-nee try not to harm her, she hates Orochimaru as much as you do or even more for what he did to her. She was the one to tell us about the invasion. She's not an enemy anymore." He pleaded with her.

At the exact moment that Anko wanted to argue about this the doorbell rang. She left the table to open the door with Naruto in tow. Opening it she has seen Asuma and team 10 with a new girl with red hair. She immediately scowled guessing she would be the new addition to their house.

"Hey Anko, we are here to deliver your new charge. She's rough around the edges but she's a good girl. See ya later. Tell Kurenai that she looks as beautiful as always." He said and went off with the two boys walking behind him.

"Shithead. Who's the lady? Don't tell me you are two timing Ino?" she said visibly still angry about the comment that Asuma said about her.

"Tayuya we have already been over this. I'm not a shithead, it's Naruto. And this is Anko-nee and I'm not two timing Ino." He said pinching his nose bridge.

Tayuya has heard already about the snake mistress from Naruto and Asuma, she decided to play it safe and not to insult her in case she held a grudge about Orochimaru. "Hello, my name is Tayuya, no last name." she said.

Anko could only scowl at her but Hokage's orders were law and she couldn't fault Naruto for obeying them. Still she was weary of the new arrival. "Anko Mitarashi, brat. Come in."

Tayuya grew a tick mark but decided to keep calm or the woman might torture her in the bathroom later. She walked inside with Naruto in front and Anko behind her. It was normal that she didn't want to show her her back. It was like asking to be killed in this world. They entered the kitchen and the beauties were anxious about what might happen in the next five minutes.

"Kurenai-nee, Yugao-nee let me present our new addition to the village, Tayuya. She has a sharp tongue so please give her the benefit of the doubt. She may call you a bad name but that's how she shows that she's comfortable around you." Said Naruto and showed the girl to a seat and poured her some coffee as well.

The older women tried to make the situation less tense by offering a handshake which the younger one accepted after verifying for any sign of deception. A whole life under Orochimaru would have done that to anyone.

"Hello I'm Tayuya." She was clearly afraid being in this room. She felt that she was encircled by four high rank ninjas who could kill her at any moment. That's why she tried to keep on her best behavior.

"I'm Kurenai."

"Hi Tayuya-chan. I'm Yugao."

Anko couldn't handle it anymore. Why was everyone accepting her that easily? "Enough, I won't act all friendly with her! She was under Orochimaru. How do we know that she isn't a spy?!"

"Because I tested her with my sensing. She really hates Orochimaru. Tayuya can you please tell her your story. Maybe you both will be even able to relate to each other." Said Naruto getting tired of these charades.

Tayuya began her story when the bell rang once again. Naruto lifted his butt and went to the door. Before leaving the kitchen, he spoke "Yugao-nee, Kurenai-nee, can you keep Anko from harming Tayuya please?" to which he got two nods and a mock glare from Anko.

"Naruto, you act like you are the adult in this house." She said to which Naruto only sent her a knowing look causing the two women to snicker and Anko to deflate. She then sat down and decided to at least to listen to the girl, she trusted her little brother to at least do this.

Meanwhile Naruto opened the door to see a smiling Ino in the doorway.

"Ino-chan what are you doing here? I though you would have liked to spend some time with your family after such a long time."

"I will have plenty of time to do that in the coming two months. I wanted to speak to Anko about training. Tsunade-sama told me that she will teach me only two days a week. So, I have plenty of time for some more training." She said at which Naruto smiled and told her to enter.

When they arrived in the kitchen Anko was hugging Tayuya. It was a peculiar sight, seeing that just a few moments before she was ready to kill the girl and bury her in the garden. Tayuya herself was tense in the embrace. How long was it since someone hugged her like that?

"I'm sorry Tayuya, I was doing the same to you that the villagers did to me. I hated you for your association with Orochimaru." She said leaving the girl.

"Apologies accepted."

"Yuya-chan what are you doing here?" said Ino gathering the attention of everyone in the room.

"I live here. And I told you to stop calling me that!"

"When you stop calling Naruto a shithead." Ino said blowing a raspberry.

"Ino what are you doing here?" asked Kurenai.

"I came here to ask Anko help in training. I decided to become an assassin like her. While Naruto is our tank and a one-person assault squad his techniques aren't the best suited for precision work." She said emphasizing her point by invoking her chakra claws.

Anko never wanted to train anybody before, but then Naruto was half forced on her and now someone was coming to ask her for that. "Swear to me that you won't whine however I train you and you will do what I tell you to do."

"I swear as long as it doesn't interfere with my other teacher."

"Other teacher? You mean Kakashi?"

"No, I mean Tsunade-sama." She said dropping a huge bomb on everybody.

"I guess that she outclasses me in this sense. Oh well, as long as you don't whine, and you do everything without asking as long as it doesn't interfere with Tsunade-Sama's orders." She said sighing a bit "But now isn't the time to think about it we have an all-girl plus Naruto evening today. Want to stay?"

Ino happily nodded to the proposition and sat down with everybody and started chatting until the older ladies took out some alcohol. Naruto knew already that there was a huge storm coming his way.

He went to the bathroom for a little "thinking". When he came down something was odd. He couldn't put his finger on it when a clearly drunk Ino who stumbled to him.

"Nee-san how much did she have? I was out for only 10 minutes." Naruto asked. He really was the adult in this room seeing as everyone else had a blast watching the drunk girl.

"She only had a sip; she really can't handle alcohol." Said Tayuya even if she herself wasn't drinking.

"She's fucking thirteen it's normal she can't handle it. Even if we are theoretically are allowed to drink, ethically, we shouldn't do it until we are much older." He said scolding the "adults" in the room.

Ino wasn't getting why he was so mad and began slurring "Naruto-kun why are you mad? You don't like me anymore?" she began tearing up and was coming closer and closer to him.

"Of course, I do Ino-chan, but you are drunk you should-" he didn't have the time to finish when Ino barfed on his shirt causing a huge outburst in the room. Naruto was going to have a really long night if she continued like that.

He took off his shirt and threw it on the floor and grabbed Ino to the bathroom to clean her up and put her to bed. After she was asleep Naruto went to the kitchen to give the girls inside a glare and went to bed himself.

He wanted to get in bed with Ino, but he didn't feel like doing it right now. It didn't sit right with him that maybe she would think that while asleep he took advantage of her. He sighed and took another blanket and sat next to the wall. He wouldn't be able to sleep in his bed tonight.

**Next morning**

Naruto was woken by something poking at his side. He groggily opened his eyes and with a yawn looked around himself seeing a crouching Ino in front of him. She had this cute pout on her face.

"Hello Ino-chan."

"Good morning Naruto-kun. Why are you sleeping here and why do you smell like puke? I can't remember anything from yesterday." She said flinching a bit from a growing headache.

Naruto eyed her with a mocking smile and said "You got drunk yesterday. You've bean crying thinking I don't like you and before you could finish you vomited on me. Then I put you to sleep." Ino was getting a sheepish look on her face as well as a blush. "And I sleep here because I didn't want you to think that I maybe took advantage of you in your drunken state."

Ino looked at him with big eyes and hugged her favorite blonde. "Silly Teddy bear. I know you wouldn't take advantage of me during sleep. You are too much of a gentleman to do it. Still thank you for being so considerate of me." She finished giving him a small peck on his right cheek.

He smiled at the act and played with her hair. After a few minutes of silent cuddles, they got up and went downstairs for breakfast with a small warning from Naruto "I'll give you a small advice. The breakfast on hangover is like a transplant. Your body might reject it."

Thankfully this time she did not puke her guts out. Checking the clock, they said goodbyes to each other and to a silent Anko curing her own hangover with some beer. It always helped for the withdrawal syndrome.

Ino sprinted to her house to take a shower and get ready for the training day with Tsunade and Naruto decided it was time to look for his perverted teacher. He didn't have much trouble finding him. There were only two possibilities, an onsen or the Hokage office. Thankfully for the white-haired man it was the office or Naruto might have blasted him straight into hell.

Knocking on the door and entering this time the normal way Naruto could see that not only his house was having a speak-quietly-or-better-don't-if you want-to-live day. The kage level ninjas were better at hiding it but a flinch here and there at loud noises was noticeable.

"Hey everybody, Ero-sennin you ready to train like there is no tomorrow?" he asked

"Sorry brat, I can't help you today. With the incoming inauguration we need to prepare everything for Tsunade-hime. Come tomorrow to this place, we will train there." He handed Naruto a slip of paper with the location's coordinates and continued discussing politics with the non-arguably strongest shinobi of the village.

Naruto didn't have any idea about what to do until a voice in his head gave him what he wanted

"**Naru-chan, let's go to your hideout. I will train with you today."** Said the fox woman residing in his gut. Naruto gulped the normally lazy woman could demolish him in mere seconds if she wanted to, such training would most likely bring big results and even more pain to his body. He quickly **Shunshinned **to the place.

Our protagonist was almost thankful to Orochimaru for creating this underground lab. The training ground was sealed off from the outside world. He could summon Kurama without causing a mass panic in the village. He did the ritual and the woman stood before him.

She wasn't wearing her regal clothes but a battle kimono with her hair tied in a loose bun with two bangs going on the side. Even if he didn't have any kind of romantic feelings for her he had to admit that it suited her. He would need to ask Ino to try this hair style later.

She got into a loose stance not really having a taijutsu style. She didn't need it she was that strong. She was on the top of the food chain for the moment. Naruto on the other side summoned all the power he could and all the big guns.

The battle that ensued would rock the foundations of Konoha. And it wasn't a metaphor. He tried to hit her once, but she just upped her tempo every time that he was too close. He was like a ragdoll in her hands. He was feeling like a defenseless child fighting her. The worst thing was that she would do it with this small smirk all the time.

He lamented "Why do I have to attract such sadistic ladies in my life." Taking his body from the wall that she has thrown him into.

"**That won't do Naru-chan. You need to think as if I were trying to kill Ino-chan if you want to land a blow on me." **She taunted him and she wasn't disappointed when she has seen him snarl. He got into a sprinter position ready to run. Rings started appearing on his legs and powerful jets of Yang started to push him.

When enough thrust was produced, he launched himself at the Kyuubi. It was the first time that she blocked his strike instead of evading. Catching the offending foot, she has thrown him away and stood straight. "**Enough for today, you might not know it, but we were going straight for five hours now. Come sit here and let us talk a bit." **When he did as ordered, she continued "**What have you learned today?**"

"That you are a sadistic Onee-chan." This earned him a swat to the head. "That I need to improve my speed."

"**Exactly, since you earned your Bijuu Arms you forgot about the basics of your father's style. You began fighting like Tsunade. I'm not saying it's bad, you have certainly more body and muscle mass than your father at your age but not enough to just throw punches almost blindly trying to annihilate people. You need to develop your speed to make sure that you can catch your opponent without charging the thrust. I let you do it because it's training but in real fight it would be a death sentence. We will continue this every night when you are sleeping." **She said and waved him a goodbye coming back to her housing.

Naruto groaned at the lingering pain in his body. He wasn't even sure if it was real pain or his receptors were just saturated and produced these signals because of the beating. He would need to think of a way to enhance his speed without sacrificing precious time. This brought him to a new revelation, he couldn't let himself charge attacks when in battle. That was his second priority now.

Going back to his house for a well-deserved shower and a meal he has seen that Ino was already there in the same state as he was.

She looked at him and seen his clothes in tatters "Tough day I guess?"

"Don't remind me. Kura-nee was throwing me around the training ground like a child. You don't seem to be better than me though."

"First Tsunade-sama told me to study with Shizune-san and later she came to train me herself. How does this woman as so much strength is beyond me." He said nursing her sore shoulder. Naruto came to her and with a quick Yang infusion eased her pain and forced her system to reconstruct her muscle tissue.

The duo chatted until late at night when Ino went home and came back straight into Naruto's bed to hug her radiator.

**Next Day**

Naruto was standing in front of Jiraiya who was thinking for a second until he opened his mouth "I will be frank with you Gaki. You are very strong for your age, but you have two glaring weaknesses that someone will use against you. It's your-"

"Speed and the time required to charge my attacks. I was let know yesterday. Albeit very painfully." He finished Jiraiya's sentence for him. It was a huge respect boost in the eyes of the older man. Most people sat on their current level when they got strong enough, not accepting that they had problems somewhere.

"Exactly that is what we are going to work on for the next two months. That's why today we will spar with a small handicap. We will spar only using our legs, it will make you rethink your whole fighting experience. Arms are allowed for blocking or else one of us might lose his family jewels."

They both assumed their stances and launched. Naruto wasn't able to generate such high speeds without the use of Yang. His frame was still that of a thirteen-year-old. So, every kick he did a small jet of Yang was sent to enhance the strength and speed of his attacks.

**Time skip 1 month and almost 4 weeks.**

Naruto and Ino were seriously asking their sanities at this point in life. What dumbass would train like in the hell week of ANBU for almost two months. Dumbasses that were preparing for war of course.

Let's begin with Ino. When she wasn't training with Tsunade or learning under Shizune, she was training under Anko. If any of them couldn't she was training with her beloved blond. Iryo ninjutsu, assassination, interrogation, escaping, torture, fighting was what she would say when you asked her for what she was doing. The only time of peace was when Kakashi brought Sasuke to train with the others to make sure that they could still work at least together.

She couldn't complain though, her skills have broken any limits that she earlier set for herself. She was spending time with Anko, Kurenai and Yugao and they accepted her as a new member of their club, without drinking of course. Everybody was sure that after the invasion she would sport a chunin vest without any problem.

Her chakra control went high enough for her to be able to manifest her scalpels or more like blades from any part of her body; fingers, hands, feet, elbows. Whatever you could imagine. With Naruto showing her more advanced forms of the Hummingbird.

She was developing as fast as anyone could imagine when being trained to the bone by three high ranking ninja and the current Hokage. Or even faster. Tsunade was seeing a bit of herself within the girl. A future blonde femme fatale.

Naruto was growing as well, not as fast since his power levels were much higher and you had to work much more to add a few points to that. He was still much stronger than two months ago.

He gained some natural speed by doing his leg only spars with Jiraiya. Add to that his newer manifestation of the Kyuubi chakra on his feet. It looked as if he had fox like feet with the gold going up to around mid-calf. He was sure that his Golden Demon nickname wasn't for naught.

The **Bijuu Arms** were changing as well. Because of the new mastery over Yang they started manifesting much more tangible resembling armor like gauntlets with some shapes that looked as if made of jade. He wasn't sure why they didn't look like foxes, but it still looked cool in his mind.

That was until Kurama showed him what it was supposed to look like that caused him a great amount of salivating. It looked like an incomplete armor that encompassed her arms and legs. With Chinese guardian lion sculptures embellishing them. It was to show the long-forgotten summons that once were friends with her.

The only problem that they found was the charging time of his attacks. They couldn't do much, maybe shortening the time by one or two seconds but it still wasn't instantaneous. It was a simple law, the more power you wanted to add the more you had to sacrifice.

That's why Naruto decided to fiddle with an idea of really low powered **Yang Bolts**. The power wouldn't be too high but the possibility of super rapid barrage of small bullets would surely help him. That's what gave him the **Yang Pistols** inspired by the **Mizudeppo: Nicho**. They were just miniscule **Yang Bolts **that didn't have any penetrating power put it could still knock out a weak opponent or force a stronger one into evading.

Something else happened during these two months. Naruto would have almost forgotten about a certain date because of his endless training with his teachers during the day and Kurama while asleep.

_Flashback_

It was already one month since Naruto has thrown himself into hardcore training. Days didn't have any names anymore in his mind. It wasn't Monday, Tuesday etc. it was Sparing, Getting beaten into pulp, Mild chakra exhaustion.

For the last week he noticed that everyone was acting strange around him. Whenever he would get close, his friends would abruptly stop talking and when asked what was going on, he wouldn't get a clear answer. Yugao even took his sword for what she called "An inspection". She never did it before.

That was until one day he got up, strangely Ino was already out of bed before him. Her scent has faded away. Thinking she was having some early training, he didn't ask any more questions. Ending his morning rituals, he went to the kitchen where he sleepily greeted everyone present.

Wait something wasn't right. At most there should've been five people if the girls had a drinking night. The kitchen was almost full. Anko, Kurenai, Yugao, Tayuya, Ino, Asuma, Kakashi, Hayate, team 10, Shizune, Tsunade, Jiraiya and even the Sandaime were here.

"Happy Birthday Naruto!" they all said in unison.

Naruto's eyes widened to the point that some of the guests thought they would pop out of the orbits. He forgot his own birthday. He checked his right cheek and a stray tear has escaped it. It was the first time that so many people gave him a birthday party.

"Thank you everyone!" he said wiping the tear away.

Hugs, chatting, teasing about relationships was what ensued. Until Yugao came forward with the box that was used for storing his sword. She was the sword mistress of Konoha. That's why she was chosen to give him the gift.

"Everybody pitched in to make some changes to it. You have already outgrown your last sword and it wasn't perfect for your mother's style. But we knew how much you loved it that's why we decided to accommodate it."

Gifts weren't even his priority. So many people thinking of him highly enough to make him a small birthday party at 5AM was a huge gift in itself already. He took the gift slightly bowing to the group showing his gratitude.

Opening it he saw that it wasn't normal. It was on the short spectrum for a katana but still counted as one. The biggest change was the blade. Or the blades to be specific. Instead of one it had two parallel blades coming from the hilt. Just like what he has seen his mother use in his mindscape all these years ago.

"Thank you" he said not trusting his voice to do the talking.

_Flashback End_

Today was the last day before the chunin exams. Ino and Naruto were waiting for their Sensei and Sasuke. Exactly at 8AM sharp they both came in a **Shunshin** with Kakashi having some forms in his hand.

"Yo, we will keep it short today. Here are your forms to take the chunin exams. You need to sign them and come tomorrow to the academy, class 303." He said giving them their forms and taking Sasuke back for another ANBU to watch over him in his house.

The blondes decided to take a stroll through the village. They didn't have any time during these two months to just spend some quiet quality time together. The destination was the Yakiniku Q. After the meal they chose to try a new ice cream stand in the center of the village.

That was until a suspicious square rock moved when they turned around. They sensed it much before, but they silently agreed to let the kids inside play a bit.

"Kono, it's enough. Take off that stupid box, rocks aren't square, with holes for eyes and they don't move." Said Naruto

There was a small explosion and a whole lot of smoke was produced. They could hear three kids coughing inside. When the smoke disappeared, they were making a pose.

"I'm Moegi, the cutest kunoichi." Said the girl

"I'm Udon and I like math." Said a boy while wiping some snot from his nose.

"And I am Konohamaru and we are the Konohamaru Corps." They said not exactly synchronized.

Naruto had a good laugh at that and spawned three clones that were holding signs showing six, seven and another seven. They argued a bit between themselves, settled on the scores showing and popped in small clouds of smoke.

"What's up Kono and friends? Why aren't you in the academy?" Naruto asked

"Iruka-sensei let us go early today because of some preparation that he needed to do."

Konohamaru came closer to Ino watching her with a scrutinizing eye. Ino thought it was cute seeing an eight-year-old do it.

"Boss is she your girlfriend?" he asked making the teens blush

"Not yet…" they both said blushing even harder

"Huuuuh? Why? She's really cute and you two seem to like each other. See you even took the same ice cream flavors." He said backing up with a huge smile and his hands behind his head not looking behind him until he bumped into someone.

"Sorry sir" said the young Sarutobi, but the teenager wanted to scare him a bit. He lifted Konohamaru from his feet.

"I need to teach you some manners kid." He chuckled lifting his hand ready to strike. He felt someone catch his hand in midair and turned around.

Naruto gave a glance to the group, they were around his age. The boy was wearing a black cat suit with makeup on his face. The girl was the oldest of the two with sandy blond hair and teal eyes.

"You Suna ninja should calm down a bit if you don't want to cause any political problems. This kid didn't do anything to mandate striking him down, and you may want to let him go. He's the Hokage's grandson." Naruto said with a chilly smile which made the kabuki release the boy with a small amount of fear. "And tell your third teammate to come down from this tree. His killing intent is making the villagers weary."

A red-haired boy fell down from the tree, he had the most emotionless face that Naruto has ever seen. There were black markings around his eyes and a tattoo of kanji for love over his left eye. There was an eerie feeling around him. He couldn't dwell on it much longer because Kurama spoke from the inside.

"**Naruto he's a huge problem. He's Suna's jinchuuriki, I can feel Shukaku inside of him. See these black markings? He can't sleep or the Tanuki would take control.**" She warned him which made Naruto squint his eyes.

The red-haired boy decided to open his face "I'm sorry for my teammates. We will surely see each other tomorrow." He said taking his teammates which were fearful of the youngest member in tow and while passing Naruto he whispered, "You will prove my existence."

Ino felt a chill running through her spine overhearing the redhead's words. She turned to check on Naruto who had an unusual face for him while in the village. He wasn't that serious even during his training with the Sannins.

"Ino-chan, if we have to fight against them during the exams, if you can't kill him in less than three minutes you must run. Trust me you don't want to fight him; he smells of blood." Seeing the look Ino was giving him he developed "He's like me." He said pointing at his belly.

Ino gulped down some saliva she didn't even know she had in her mouth and nodded. He grabbed her hand and **Shunshinned** them to the Hokage office. They would need to confirm it with the Godaime.

"Yo baa-chan something has just happened that we need to address." He exclaimed and received a paper weight to the head.

"That was for calling me baa-chan and barging here without even asking permission. Especially since I have some important guests." Tsunade said with a vein popping on her forehead.

Looking around Naruto and Ino have seen some old faces. It was Haku, Zabuza, a blue-haired teen around sixteen and a gorgeous woman with auburn hair that went almost to her feet, hiding one of her eyes with the bangs.

"Long time no see, Zabuza, Haku, Chojuro and Mei. Or should I say Mizukage-sama? Or would you prefer Commander for the sake of old times?" Naruto greeted cheekily. To which the Mizukage bodyguards smiled at the new blondes in the room.

"I think you earned the right to call me by name eh Golden?" she answered as cheekily as he did "And who is that lovely young lady that you brought?"

"Her name is Ino Yamanaka, Ino meet Mei Terumi, the Godaime Mizukage." He presented his soon to be girlfriend even if he didn't know how soon. To which Ino bowed and greeted the Mizukage as well.

Tsunade decided to break the pleasantries between the two groups with a small cough. "Now Naruto I bet you didn't barge here just to say hello. What do you want?"

Naruto's face hardened gaining a serious aura around himself. "My and Kakashi's predictions were right. Suna sent their jinchuuriki here to compete. Trust me, he isn't any bit stable. He could lose control at any moment given the right circumstances."

"That's worrying, Mizukage-dono I need to excuse myself for a few minutes. I need to call someone back to the village and this must be done as fast as possible. I hope Naruto can entertain you long enough." She said running outside to write to Jiraiya to come back immediately. They needed a seal master in case something happened.

"So, Mei how's it going with Zabuza?" Zabuza wanted to scream at the boy. Mei on the other hand lifted her left hand with a ring.

"We haven't set a date yet. We will make sure to send you an invite. I still dream of the day when Zabu-kun proposed, he was so cute." She giggled. That made Ino step forward and speak with the older woman, leaving the group to speak between themselves.

"Who would've thought… hmmm Zabu-kun." Naruto has thrown a jab at the brow less swordsman. "Have you brought any genins with you?"

The Kiri ninja shook their heads "Not this time. We are still recovering from the civil war and knowing about the invasion we didn't want to lose any newbies with some potential. We will be serving as judges this time only."

The chatting continued for a few more minutes. Ino and Mei have hit it off too good for the taste of the males in the room. It was something about help with the wedding and being auntie Ino. Tsunade came back from the mail room and sent the blondes out with a "good luck for tomorrow".

**Next Day**

Ino and Naruto were waiting for their third teammate until he came with Kakashi. They changed into their ninja mode and went to the entrance.

"Let's rock these exams." Naruto said stretching his arms and sending an aura of seriousness around the team.

_**End chapter 7**_

**AN: I know it took long. Still thank you for reading and cya next time.**


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, I wouldn't have to go through college. Wait I don't have to right now because of the epidemy. Every character belongs to Kishimoto unless they are my own OCs.

**AN: Normally I try to answer to some of the reviews directly via the messaging system, but I think it will benefit everyone if answered here. It was about making Naruto strong but not overly op. I will play devil's advocate with that one. It's hard to do it, I struggle every time a bigger training session appears in the story to not make Naruto absurdly strong. I seriously dread the 3-year time skip in the canon seeing how strong my Naruto is already. Anyway, let's begin the story.**

"Talk"

"_Thoughts"_

"**Bijuu, summons"**

**Jutsu**

"Let's rock these exams." Naruto said stretching his arms and sending an aura of seriousness around the team.

They entered the building and felt a pang of nostalgia. So many hours have been spent within these walls becoming the next batch of protectors of Konoha. The circle of learning has closed on them finally. At least one of them would enter these exams as a wet behind the ears shinobi and exit them ascending in ranks.

Hitai-ates from different countries were shining in the sun entering through the windows in the hallway. Suna, Ame, Kusa were the most abundant. One team was sporting the sign of a newly made village.

It was time to move to the designed class where the first part would be going on. Anko has spilled some secrets since they were constantly on a mission to confine and now protect Sasuke in case Orochimaru decided to catch a pair of Sharingan eyes before anyone could do anything about it.

Going up two flights of stairs they have seen a group of wannabes trying to enter the class with the sign 303 on it. They were only on the second floor, no matter how stupid you were counting the number of stairs you went up was something a toddler could do. Add insult to injury, they were from Konoha. They were supposed to know this place like the insides of their kunai holsters.

Sasuke wanted to prove his superiority by calling the bluff. That was halted by Ino putting a claw next to his neck. "You utter one word and I will cut your vocal cords." The ravenette could only nod his head in compliance. Naruto on the other hand needed to smack Anko on the head for rubbing on the girl so much. Or not, he would have done the same if she hasn't been quicker to act.

Finally, the real 303 class was before them. The door was closed right now, and all the candidates were shooting KI at each other. It was at most pathetic according to Naruto and Ino seeing that they were subjected to it for almost two months from jonins and kages.

They turned around when they have heard some footsteps coming their way. Team 10 and 8 were coming their way. "The circle has closed for all of us I see. Such a drag." Said Shikamaru even if he was much happier than before. Certainly, by having a new female teammate who was pulling her weight and then some.

"The gang is full!" shouted a boisterous boy with a grey vest and a small dog sprawled on his head.

"Kiba you might want to tone it down a peg or two." Said Naruto "Can't you feel the mood?"

Another genin with silvery hair has come their way "You might want to listen to your friend. Everyone is ready to kill you here if they feel they can. Take it from me a veteran of these exams."

"A veteran? Is that your second time?" asked Kiba.

"Actually, it's my seventh…" the older teen answered slightly embarrassed.

"Seven times? You must suck." Laughed the feral Inuzuka boy.

"Or these exams are much harder than we expect" said Shikamaru.

"Whatever… As a show of good will, I will give you the info I gathered about the contestants. Tell me who do you want to know about. Though first we should change the spot, everybody is trying to blast their KI at us. It's making me uncomfortable"

Naruto wasn't buying it. He could sense that the teen had jonin level reserves and his mannerism wasn't that of a genin or even a chunin. There was a sense of dread around him that he already felt once but couldn't pinpoint it.

"You call that KI… what's your name?" he asked

"Kabuto, Yakushi Kabuto."

"You call that KI Kabuto-san?" he said clearly mocking the teen almost calling his bluff. He stood in front of the hall with a bored face looking at the contestants. It was time to show them what real life was about.

"Kurama help me showing these dimwits what a real KI is like." He said to his tenant whom gleefully obliged. They opened the floods of death. The KI was almost palpable in the room. The air was unbreathable, some contestants fell to their knees and other began crying.

This action had two goals. The first one was to shut the competition up. The second was to put in them the fear of Kami so they don't try to target the Konoha teams. A certain redhead in the hall was ecstatic about seeing all of that, the blonde would truthfully prove his existence.

"Now we have a relative peace. So, Kabuto-san what can you tell us about this year's competition? Let's see I want you to tell me about the redhead in the corner over there." Naruto said

"And tell me what you can about Naruto Uzumaki." Sasuke butted in watching over his teammate.

"No name that will be fun and a name no fun at all. First come first served. The redhead's name is Gaara. He's a genin from Suna with his teammates being his siblings Temari and Kankuro. 13 D-ranks, 5 C-ranks and 3 B-ranks. Phewwww apparently, he came from every one of them without any scratch. That's impressive. Now secondly Naruto Uzumaki, genin of Konoha. Teammates are Ino Yamanka and yourself. Not very trusting, are you? He graduated early and not much is known about his time between the academy and when he became team 7 member. Highly proficient in kenjutsu and what would seem a bloodline. What the fuck is that record?! Over 50 completed A-ranks? That must be a mistake." Kabuto said checking his card a few times.

Naruto wasn't having it anymore, he scanned everything he could about the silverette. From his eyes that seemed perfectly fine since his glasses had fake lenses to his feet. That was until he sensed his chakra. It had the same markers that the hooded man with Orochimaru when they ran. He would need to contact the Hokage about it.

You must surely be asking yourself why Naruto let the boy spill these secrets. It was simple, he let him speak to give himself some time to scan everything as well as his stats would serve as additional deterrent for any team to try to come after him and his team. He needed to protect Sasuke from any potential threat in the next part.

Before he could do anything a set of what he assumed to be examiners came and unlocked the class. They made the genin hopefuls stand in beeline assigning them seats by numbers. Naruto watched his number, it was 69. Nice.

He sat himself on the chair letting the scar-head known as Morino Ibiki finish his speech about the rules that Naruto didn't care about. He has already known what this test was about from Anko. As soon as the papers were distributed, he lifted his hand.

"What do you want?" said one of the scrutineers

"I need to use the toilet" he said bluntly making the people inside snicker.

The examiner was going to go with the boy outside when Ibiki has seen the sign for traitor among ranks shown by Naruto's hand. He told the rest of the room that he would go with the boy. Once outside he turned to Naruto and asked.

"What is going on Uzumaki?"

"There is a traitor in the class, Kabuto Yakushi. I need to go see the Hokage about what I should do."

Ibiki didn't waste any time and **Shunshinned **them both to the office where Tsunade was pulling her hair out seeing the mountain of paperwork on her desk. Maybe one day he would trade the clone secret.

"Naruto what's going on? What are you two doing here?" she asked seeing that Naruto had his ANBU face on.

"Remember the hooded man that was with Orochimaru in Tanzaku Gai? Turns out I wasn't the only high-level ninja posing as genin in these exams. He's here as well, the name is Kabuto Yakushi."

Tsunade swiftly found the offender's file. Naruto got on one knee in the traditional ANBU awaiting for orders pose. "What are your orders Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade pondered her options for the moment. If they killed Orochimaru's man right now they could have tipped of the villain. If they did nothing the spy would stay in the village making the invading process easier for Orochimaru. Hokage's job was too stressful sometimes. She put her head on her hands and thought it through.

"Ushi you will be given a second scroll for your team in the second part. No need to keep you in there for too long or Orochimaru will come to surely visit you. No need for that to happen. Anko will have instructions to set your gates next to each other. Kill the roach, Orochimaru won't do anything about it anyway." She said and dismissed the duo back to the exam room.

Ibiki and Naruto entered the classroom. Everybody was looking at them, what were they doing there for almost thirty minutes. Naruto and Ibiki decided to ignore the looks. It was almost time for the tenth question anyway.

At the 45min mark Ibiki roared to make everyone drop their pencils. It was time to make sure they understood what they were trying to achieve.

"Listen to me you maggots. It's not the time to congratulate yourselves. There is one more question that you need to take to pass this part of the exam. You can choose to either answer that question or not. However, if you don't take it you will be forced out of this exam"

"Then of course we will take it!" shouted a genin lambda in the back

"Shut up and let me finish you idiot. If you decide to answer this question and you are wrong, you will be forever barred from taking a chunin exam."

Students began crumbling hearing the ultimatum they were given. They were in times of relative peace; field rank ups were rare because of that. You would need a huge miscalculated mission to earn the right to be promoted.

Some hands began shooting up one after another, the class becoming emptier every minute. Cries were heard from outside the door. Didn't matter they were young, and another exam would be happening in six months.

Ibiki was proud of himself and thankful to Naruto and his blond teammate for not spoiling his fun. Weak links had to be eradicated, no need to send them into a man-eating forest if they couldn't risk their lives on their current mission. Some maybe have caught to the bluff seeing that he didn't have enough power to force them out of the exams for life.

When enough were weeded out Ibiki began undoing his bandana showing ugly scars that were most probably from torture he was subjected to. "For all of you who have risked their careers for this chance to be promoted I only have to say two words. You pass!"

Eyes as big as saucers were watching him, asking him nonverbally what was going on since they were too scared of the scar-face in front of them. "This test was made to test two parts of your shinobi training. Intelligence gathering but your willpower as well. Sometimes your mission will be under classed because of a lying client. Or the information you have got was tampered with. Will you continue the mission for the sake of the village? Or will you crumble like the ones that have left?" he said giving his audience a good look at his bald head showing what could happen if the shit hit the fan.

"You continue the mission! You are a soldier to your village; your life will always be in danger in this line of work. If you don't want to assume the consequences of your choices, you are not qualified to become a chunin!" he shouted making everybody inside question their decisions.

He wanted to scare the genins a bit more until a ball of cloth entered through a window. A closed window. Sending shrapnel at everyone inside. The ball of cloth was deployed with the help of kunais. The banner was now in full display showing "Sexy and Single examiner. Mitarashi Anko."

"Anko-nee I think you are a tad too early. Ibiki wanted to play with us a bit longer." Said Naruto waving to his sister who had a bashful look on her face.

"Uzumaki is right. You ruined the mood Anko. Anyway, for those that have stayed, good luck, you will need it." Said Ibiki coming from behind of the banner.

"Alright you maggots follow me to the next portion of the exams. If you are too late you fail." She said and jumped out of the window. Soon everyone followed suit rushing behind the female. Naruto grabbed Ino and sped up to Anko in front.

"Anko-nee did you get the info from the Hokage?" he asked to which Anko nodded and Ino looked for more information.

"Kabuto is the man that was with Orochimaru when we were looking for Tsunade-sama. We will be getting an almost free pass in this test. No need to look for the additional scrolls. Instead of that we will kill Kabuto in the forest, if possible, interrogate. After a few meters I will knock out Sasuke and we will rush for our target." He said and Ino nodded deploying her claws giving her a feral look.

When everyone arrived Anko pointed out a few genins who were too late. The group was chatting nervously, and nobody was doing anything to shut them up. They only had to wait for a few minutes until a shriek was heard inside the forest.

"Welcome to the training ground number forty-four, cutely nicknamed Forest of death. Your mission will be simple. You will be given one of these scrolls. You will have five days to gather one of each and come to the tower in the center of the forest. First, I need you to sign these forms though." She said and distributed a large pack of forms to the genins.

"What are they for?"

"An insurance in case you die in there nobody will go for my ass or Konoha's." she replied with a sickly grin.

Chatter began anew between the contestants. What will they eat for five days? Will they be eaten? How many will survive?

Naruto didn't even listen and stood first in line to get their scroll with a sealing tag that contained another one. Checking the entrance number, he was given it was a map with every team in his vicinity. It was the time to eliminate a mole that served Orochimaru.

Ino, Naruto and even Sasuke looked in front with determination towards the gate they were assigned. Little did Sasuke know about the plan and fifty meters in the forest he felt a blunt force knocking him out.

"Now that he's out, our mission will be easier. Let's go Ino I can sense our target one kilometer away thirty degrees east." He said and they moved to the meeting point.

They were high in the trees when they noticed a certain silver mop of hair with his teammates. Ino didn't even have the time too blink when Naruto shot three **Yang Lasers **punching the hearts of the target's teammates and completely severing Kabuto's leg.

Jumping down they could see him squirming on the ground from the pain and the blood loss. That was until he began growing his leg back in a matter of seconds.

"My, my Naruto-kun. Who would've thought that you would be the first one to notice my true identity? Sadly, it won't help you." Kabuto lunged at Naruto with his **Chakra no Mesu **ready to cut the boy down.

Ino decided to show him how it's done. She invoked her own metal cutting nails and blocked Kabuto's strike, severing his right hand in the process.

Kabuto didn't like what was happening. These kids have already wasted his chakra by forcing him to regenerate full body parts. He wasn't liking his spot at all right now.

Naruto decided that the secondary mission objective would be too hard to attain. They would need to drag this battle long enough for Kabuto to stop regenerating. He would kill the teen in such a gruesome way that his body wouldn't be able to regenerate.

He took out his sword from the sheaths and got into a stance where the blade was parallel to himself. Building up the chakra he deployed his **Bijuu Legs **and calmly said **"Sixteenth stance: Sakura"**

He marched toward the spy until they were four meters apart. Suddenly he was one meter behind. He flashed all around the boy, looking as if many copies of himself were attacking faster and faster. The blade was only seen by flashes white and rose light making it look as if sakura's petals were floating in the air.

The onslaught was finished and for the first time in long time Ino lost a tone or two from her face. The boy was no more. There was only a splash of blood with Naruto being perfectly clean even after the dance he performed. It was the show of his mastery over his technique.

"Mission cleared. Let's go to the tower now." He said with a smile to Ino who nodded. Just before jumping off Naruto sensed a powerful presence and they needed to dodge a huge fireball coming their way.

On a branch was sitting no one other but one of the greatest traitors of Konoha. Itachi Uchiha clad in a black cloak with red clouds.

"Itachi, isn't it a bit early for your group to try to chase me down?" asked Naruto. Ino's eyes widened and she got into her own stance throwing Sasuke away ready to help her teammate. Naruto did the same deploying every booster he had.

"Ino-chan if you see that we lose you won't look back and abandon me here. I can fight him until help comes, but I won't be able to go all out if I need to protect you two as well. It's nonnegotiable, it's an order." He barked.

Ino wanted to argue, but she understood the gravity of the situation. Even after training for so long she wasn't strong enough to support her beloved. She understood that he was a special case, yet still it irked her.

The trio launched themselves at each other armed to the nail, Mangekyo spinning madly in Itachi's eyes seeing that Naruto was much stronger than expected and the girl looked like she was going to be a pain in the butt as well.

**Around 15 minutes before the encounter**

Orochimaru was nearing the fence ready to pay a visit to his future protegee. When he felt two people behind him. He knew instantly who they were, the only question was what were they doing here?

Itachi and Kisame were ready to fight the traitor to their organization. Samehada was out of the bandages and posted on Kisame's shoulder. Itachi's Sharingan was spinning.

"Kukuku, what a reunion. I'm sorry, but I won't be able to entertain you two." He tried to jump away from the duo into the forest. He was soon stopped thanks to Kisame's **Suiton: Goshokuzame**.

"You aren't going anywhere Orochimaru" said Kisame grinning at the pale man "Itachi, go find the brat and leave the snake to me."

**Back to Naruto**

Naruto was just launched into a tree thanks to Itachi's strike. They were losing hard against the Nuke-nin. They landed some hits on him and in return they received many more. He looked at the clearly bruised Ino. No need to make her suffer any more.

"Ino-chan you need to run. Help will surely come in some time. I need you to flee and not look back.". The girl knew when was the time to argue and when to listen to her higher ups. Now was the time to do the latter. She wasn't stupid, she couldn't help anymore and now she would only hinder Naruto's efforts.

She bolted to Sasuke's body and ran away screaming "I will resurrect you to just kill you again if you don't come back Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled at the childishness of his soon to be girlfriend. It gave him more strength and mental peace knowing she was out of immediate danger.

"You should stop resisting Naruto-kun. We both know that you won't be able to beat me."

"We will have to see then." Naruto decided to play his trump card, a five minutes boost at most, that was more time than what his rescue party was supposed to be coming in. Even one minute should be enough.

He began exuding inhuman amounts of chakra. His eyes began turning whitish golden without any pupil, every visible hair on his head became ethereal flame. It was his **Bijuu Armor Overdrive**. A double-edged sword, it forced his chakra gates to enlarge without being lethal, still leaving him in a despicable state afterwards.

He could feel that every breath he took some chakra was escaping with the air he exhaled. It didn't matter he had more than enough of that. He was just praying that the rescue party with Tsunade on the head would come fast enough.

He didn't have time to dwell on such things, if he would die today, it would've been his fate long time ago as well. He launched himself at Itachi who couldn't even react with his fully matured Sharingan. He could feel his ribcage being obliterated into puzzle sized pieces when a punch connected.

He was sent into the foliage with a shockwave obliterating everything in a cone of ten meters from Naruto's punch. Naruto himself was slowly walking to the downed nin. More and more chakra escaping his mouth letting him look as if he was breathing pure fire.

It was time for another hit. Barely registering it Itachi evaded it still being hit in the forearm which bent full one eighty degrees in the wrong direction, his hand touching his shoulder.

Naruto was starting to feel the pain from using his technique. How many more strikes would he have before his own body couldn't support him anymore? Three? Four? He wasn't sure, they just needed to connect.

Luckily for Itachi Naruto's rescue party came just in time. Yes, luckily for Itachi or he might have been in a much worse shape than what he was already in. He received a quick message from Kisame through the voice com telling him to run because the Hokage was coming here.

When Tsunade jumped in front of the buddha like Naruto, Itachi chose to flee as his partner told him to. The crisis was halted, and Naruto regained his normal looks, if you call a white as sheet face and ready to puke normal.

"Naruto why is that always you when there are problems around? What did he want?" asked Tsunade scanning the blondie mid pukes.

"They decided to see how much of a threat I pose to their organization. Apparently by beating him too hard I just painted a huge bull's eye on my butt." He said and wretched once again feeling that his stomach emptied out. At least since he only used this mode for so short there was no blood coming from his mouth and anus. It would've been hard to explain to Ino why he had a stain of blood over his ass.

"Are you good enough to continue? The exams just started like two hours ago. How about your mission?" asked Tsunade

"Yeah, I'm okay enough, a good rest in the tower should be enough. Couldn't apprehend him, he was regenerating limbs and we needed to finish it as fast as possible in case his master came with help." Naruto said drinking some water.

"Good enough seeing your mission parameters. Itachi and his accomplice has helped us by making it harder for Orochimaru to know who killed his subordinate. Good Job Ushi, yours and Ino's pay will be accounted immediately after I come back to the office. Now go to your princess." She finished making the ANBU squad with her snicker.

Naruto grumbled and blown a raspberry at the people in the clearing he made. He stood up with unsteady legs and began walking until he was good enough to run to the place where Ino was hiding.

"Naruto-kun! Thank goodness, are you okay? What happened out there? I just sensed the huge amount of chakra in the air and then it disappeared quickly." She wanted to ask more questions until Naruto shushed her.

"I'm okay taking in account what has just happened. I will answer all of your questions in the tower. We need to go fast." He said and took Sasuke on his shoulder. They had at least five kilometers left to the tower. It seemed a lot, but for a ninja it was a twenty-minute trek.

They entered the tower. Apparently, they were the second team to come to the tower, the first one being Gaara's. They dumped Sasuke in one of the rooms and went to the infirmary where they were greeted by Tsunade, Hiruzen and Jiraiya as well.

"I always said that the blondes gathered all of the trouble in the world." Joked Jiraiya which earned him a glare from the three blondes present in the room. They couldn't argue though, trouble was sticking to them worse than shit to the sole of a boot.

"What was going on out there?" asked a perplexed Ino.

"The simple answer is a full-blown shitstorm. The long one is… well longer. Sit down and let Tsunade-hime heal you. Apparently not only Itachi was present today, his accomplice was Kisame Hoshigaki. And not only they came, Orochimaru decided to draft little Sasuke into his ranks by giving him a hickey. Thankfully, the presence of his old partners has caused him to forgo his plan for the moment. About the other two, they are from a group called Akatsuki. They are trying to… catch people like Naruto. And I don't know why. Naruto saying that they came to measure his threat level gives me hope that they aren't that close to begin their plans." Said Jiraiya

Tsunade finished healing Ino and began healing the other blonde. She put her hands on him and her eyes scrunched. "Naruto take off your shirt." She ordered.

He obliged and everyone could see that his state was much worse than what he let them see. He had huge bruises getting larger and larger in real time. "Naruto, I don't know how you did it, your muscles ripped themselves apart. The bruises are from the blood flowing freely between your muscles and skin." She said healing him from the infinite number of rips in his body. "You won't use it anymore unless there is a good reason, right?" she said in a voice that promised pain if he didn't listen.

"If fighting an S-class nuke-nin that killed his entire family in one night isn't a good reason than what is, baa-chan?" he asked rolling his eyes.

Tsunade couldn't find anything else than fighting a Bijuu or an enraged jinchuuriki. She settled on lightly swatting Naruto's head for disrespect. "When will you stop calling me baa-chan when you aren't in ANBU mode?"

"When my hair turns green, baa-chan" he didn't know how much he would hate his stupid mouth in a very foreseeable future.

After being patched up the duo went to their own room. No need for two. They entered and as soon as the lock clicked a dam broke inside of Ino. "You stupid teddy bear, do you know how much I was afraid when you told me to run? How much grief I was feeling? How useless I felt unable to help you?" she cried in his chest hitting him lightly with her fists.

Naruto felt depressed hearing that. He wanted to save her so much that he was ready to put his life on the line. He… He loved her. He knew what he had to do to stop Ino from crying. He pushed her a few centimeters away and bent his head. Slowly he approached her mouth and gave her a small kiss.

"I'm sorry Ino-chan. I never wanted you to feel that way. I wanted to protect you with everything I had. I couldn't lose you. I will never lose you. Now stop crying it doesn't suit the strong girl I love." He finally said it. He bent his head once again giving her a new kiss.

Ino's brain was forced into a reboot. She dreamed of this day for so long. Surely, it wasn't as she imagined, sitting on the Hokage mountain watching the sunset, but she would take it. He said that he loved her. She cried even harder, this time not out of grief, but from happiness.

"I love you too, Naruto-kun. My teddy bear." She closed the minimal distance by squeezing him even harder. Wiping off her tears of joy she looked into his eyes with a smile "That means we are official now, aren't we?" she asked

"Yes, yes we are." He answered with the most beautiful smile she has ever seen him do. This time she was the one to stand on her toes to kiss him on his mouth.

"We will tell Anko, later. Let's go to bed, I think we deserve some rest." She said dragging him to the bed, barely leaving him time to take off his shoes.

The sleep would take the newly made couple to a shared dreamscape, favor from Kurama who was giggling inside.

**Time skip end of part two**

A few days happened, five to be exact. Sasuke had to be told a story about an ambush that knocked him out, which made him furious.

Anko on the other side was full of glee. Her bets were spot on, give or take seven days, closely followed by Asuma. The rest of the people that placed bets had to accept their defeat. Now though wasn't the time to cheer as the deadline for the second part of the exams was in five minutes.

Two minutes before the end some very vulgar tongue snapped at someone. "I told you, you sucker to get the scroll from the first team we encountered. We almost fucking came too late."

Naruto and Ino smirked knowing that team 10 has just made it, their eyes confirming the presence of a redhead with two boys coming to the hall. With them there were seven other teams inside.

Miraculously all Konoha rookies were here. Another team from Konoha was present with a guy that had a stick up his butt and another that looked as if he had worms up his own. He was constantly moving around the place as if he was sightseeing.

Another team was from Oto, the village founded by Orochimaru. In any case possible they had to be treated as hostile. No one appeared to know about their skill sets and that's what made them dangerous.

Lastly there was a team from Ame that came in only thirty minutes ago. They looked the worst from the bunch. One of them was missing and arm, clearly having received the injury in the forest judging by his pained face and the blood seeping through the bandages.

The teams that qualified were gathered in what looked like an arena. Tsunade came before them with the Sandaime who was serving as advisor until the end of the invasion when he would finally retire for, hopefully, good this time.

"Let me congratulate all of you who have passed through the forest. I know it wasn't easy and remember my words, your life will only get harder from this point. Qualified for promotion or not, you've proven your value to your villages. You will no longer be on the lowest level of hierarchy. I know most of you don't like history and politics, but please indulge me this once, and listen closely to what I say." Said Tsunade in a voice that carried the power of the village's leader.

Everyone' attention was focused on the female leader, no one was daring to make a sound. Seeing that, she continued "When I was slightly older than you war was raging through our continent, nations battling to show their dominance over each other. Nowadays we achieved what you could call peace in the ninja world. No open battles are happening as of right now and our clients don't know which village to choose when submitting a mission. This is where you come in, the open war was replaced by a controlled competition where young hopefuls would represent their nations showing the future potential of each village. That's why I need to announce that too many of you passed the second test. We need to cut down your numbers to make it enjoyable to our future customers. I will let the proctor of the preliminary fights explain everything." She said leaving the stage to a new man.

Naruto shook his head. Too many of his friends were involved as proctors in these exams. Someone higher up must've pulled some strings. Hayate looked around and with a cough he gathered the attention of everyone.

"The preliminary round will happen in one versus one fights. If anyone wants to withdraw, now is your chance, your teammates won't be penalized for it." The injured genin from Ame lifted his remaining hand to show that he didn't want to compete anymore.

"The rules are simple, the fight continues until one of the contestants is knocked out, dead or has forfeited. I ask everyone of you to join your senseis on the balcony until the first pair is drawn." He said and everyone listened to the order.

Names were rapidly changing on a screen until it stopped, showing Sasuke and one of the Ame genins that remained. Naruto didn't care about it one bit; he had enough faith in Sasuke to beat the teen. It wouldn't be too difficult. He decided to greet his jonin friends and announce officially his status with Ino to those that haven't heard about it yet.

Fights were going on and Naruto and Ino still didn't care until the green clad genin was supposed to fight Gaara. Quickly they marched to Gai and poked him on the shoulder.

"Gai-sensei, just in case get ready to interfere. Gaara will try to kill your student or in the worst case finish his career early. I know looking at his knuckles that he strived for very long to achieve his level of taijutsu."

"Don't worry Naruto-kun, Lee is perfectly strong enough to win this fight." Gai said with his trademark shining grin.

It didn't sit right with Naruto. This man was putting this boy with lots of potential in grave danger. The blond decided to act harshly, he pulled Gai by his clothes down to whisper in his ear.

"I don't think you understand the situation here Gai-sensei. The redhead is a jinchuuriki, and not a stable one like me. His only goal in life is to prove his existence by killing strong people. If Lee proves to be a good challenge Gaara will pull out all stops. Do you understand now?" he whispered harshly.

Gai's eyes widened at this revelation. "Thank you Naruto-kun. I will stop the fight if it goes too far." He told without his youthful demeanor anymore, his muscles tensing ready to spring into action.

"Lee take them off!" he shouted to which Lee jumped on the statue in the arena and took off some leg weights. Nobody was taking it seriously until they dropped to the ground. The stone beneath them shattered and Lee's speed quintupled making him visible only during strikes.

Naruto had to give Lee the respect due. "That's why specialists are often compared to monsters when they reach their peak. They are forces to be reckoned with. And here we are, witnesses to a birth of such monster."

Normally, Gai wouldn't like such a word directed at his student, but he felt that it was a compliment coming from an undercover ANBU where words like monster, freak or abnormality were used as such.

"He is my first protegee, I trained him even before the beginning of the academy. Thank you for respecting his nindo Naruto-kun."

Naruto only nodded and continued watching the fight. Ino was marveled by what she was seeing, even her boyfriend wasn't moving that fast all the time and he had to use chakra for doing so. Yet this genin was using only the power of his muscles.

The predictions made by the blond were right. Once Lee began opening more and more chakra gates the more Gaara was getting giddy about killing the green clad genin to prove his existence. It came to the point where Lee tried to open the fourth gate.

Gai has seen enough, the faster Lee was getting the more strain his body was taking. He taught the boy how to open them and now he had to stop him before he either disintegrated his muscles or Gaara would crush him in his sand. Before Lee could force the **Shomon **to open, Gai broke the fight making Lee lose by default.

He hugged the boy, infuriating Gaara by taking the opportunity to prove his existence. Gai didn't notice that Lee was already out. For the last ten minutes his mind has shut down letting his body do all the fighting. He was standing there unconscious up by only sheer will power.

A few matches continued until it was time for Ino to fight against Tayuya. It was what Kurenai would later describe as the true kunoichi fight. Each of their skillsets was made to amplify the use of their slender bodies.

Both girls looked at each other on the arena, none of them wanted to enter a straight up fight. They weren't suited for it, one of them was proficient in genjutsu and the other in healing and assassination. They were made for ambush, but the rules were set to measure their abilities to decimate an opponent.

It was the complete opposite of Gaara versus Lee match. While the two boys tried to gain the upper hand or fist by power or speed, the two girls were fighting a battle of attrition, trying to force their opponent into a mistake.

It was beautiful to the onlookers, the fight resembled more and more a dance than a true fight. Tayuya was casting her genjutsu light enough to give herself a few seconds of respite with Ino running at her trying to disable the girl using her blades from any part of her body.

Finally, it came to a halt when Ino was able to cut Tayuya's flute in half. The redhead decided to give Ino the win. She could still fight, but without her flute she would only play time until she was forced to take a disabling injury. No need to endanger your whole career when you earned your freedom already.

Two more fights happened until last match contestants were chosen. Naruto and Kiba were descending the stairs, while passing next to Kurenai she quietly told Naruto to not damage her student too hard. She already had Hinata to look after because of her cousin trying to kill her.

They met on the arena with Kiba boasting about an easy win, remembering Naruto from the old times when they were beginning the academy. Naruto didn't have much patience for the boy, the longer they were fighting the longer he was away from his new official girlfriend who wanted to cuddle right now.

Hayate screamed "Hajime!" and jumped away from the combatants. Kiba was sprinting on his four members adopting a dog like posture. Naruto only outstretched his hand with two fingers pointing at Kiba and his partner.

"**Yang Pistol**" he said calmly shooting two bullets hitting both of them right between the eyes. The match was over already, and Naruto blew on his fingers as if smoke was coming out of them. What an anticlimactic end to the murderous test.

"Don't worry he's just knocked out. He should be back in a few minutes."

When Kiba woke up he has seen that everyone was taking a slip of paper from an urn held by the Hokage. He didn't even know what happened to him.

Below numbers were said one after another dictating the order of the fights that would happen in one month. It would be the end of Naruto's mission of surveying the lone Uchiha.

The order was as such:

Naruto vs Neji

Shikamaru vs Temari

Shino vs Ino

Dosu vs Kankuro

Sasuke vs Gaara

"Young shinobi remember what I told you before this round, you will be allowed a one-month break to train and let the dignitaries arrive. Represent your countries well." Tsunade said dismissing everyone inside.

**Next day**

Naruto woke up with Ino cuddling cutely next to him. Since they became a couple the girl would always cuddle him almost to death. He wouldn't whine though; he would never reject the feeling of being loved by someone he loved as well.

He woke her up by planting a small kiss on her neck. He could see a small quiver run through her body and the girl stretched out like a cat. It was perfect seeing her feline pajamas. "Good morning sleepy head."

"Good morning Naruto-kun. Why did you wake me up?"

"It's already noon and you wanted to announce that we are dating to your parents."

He dreaded the day it would come to this. Inoichi was overly protective of the girl, maybe with some luck he wouldn't finish dead.

"Yes, yes, yes let's go!" she jumped out of the bed and almost began changing forgetting about Naruto still in the room. They both turned beet red and turned around allowing themselves for some privacy.

An hour later they would be found on the porch of Ino's house. With a deep breath Naruto knocked on the door. Ino tightened her grip on her lover's hand, an action that he did so many times already to calm her down. Thankfully the one to open the door was Saki who eyed the pair holding their hands.

"Ara, ara did something happen between you two? Come in, come in." she asked loud enough to make sure that Inoichi heard her. Naruto blushed a bit seeing the scrutinizing eyes of the older woman.

Inoichi felt that day would come sooner or later, they were after all the subject of many bets in one of the jonin communities. Even if he liked Naruto, he would still scare the boy. Naruto for the first time in a long time felt a lack of courage. He could battle an S-rank nuke-nin, but handling the father of his girlfriend? This was too much.

"Tou-chan, Kaa-chan we came here to tell you that we began dating." Blurted Ino trying to end this awkward situation already.

Saki was overjoyed, she liked the boy. She heard and have seen the implication of Naruto in her daughter's development. Inoichi would still protect his little princess.

"Before I pass my judgement, do you want to tell us how it happened?" said Inoichi. The judgement was already more than stellar though making the boy sweat gave him some amount of fatherly pride.

"Well it began when we became a team…" Naruto began the tale of their budding love and friendship with Ino interjecting every time she needed to. That was until she decided to finish it when she recalled the most recent events in the forest of death. "… and when he has seen that we couldn't win, he told me to run, possibly sacrificing himself in the process has the Hokage not came."

Inoichi couldn't say no to it anymore. If battling Itachi Uchiha to save his daughter wasn't enough to allow them to explore their feelings, then even he himself didn't know what was.

Naruto stood before Inoichi and with a deep bow he formally asked "Inoichi-san, will you please let me court your daughter?"

"I will allow it, but if you make my daughter cry out of anything else than joy…" he didn't finish the phrase only showing the international sign for you are dead.

The heavy atmosphere lifted up and Saki invited Naruto for some tee and coffee which he accepted. They still had time until their training with their respective teachers for the month. Saki was talking most of the time remembering how she and Inoichi began dating and tried to show Naruto the photos from Ino's youth. It was all fun and games until a photo of baby Ino being changed appeared which Ino quickly snapped away and began running away from her mother.

The heartwarming scene finished when the youngsters had to go meet their teachers. With a quick kiss they separated and went their ways. Jiraiya told Naruto to take the day off since he had to make a new training schedule.

Naruto was slowly strolling, taking the sights in, unconsciously preparing for the invasion. That was until his tenant decided to wake up from her slumber or catching a rabbit.

"**Naru-chan. Now that I think of it, I never gave you a birthday gift.**" She told him and he rushed to his house where he could safely come into his mindscape. And not look like a pervert seeing that he was next to a park with children.

Appearing in Kyuubi's house, Kurama was sitting next to a table with a scroll unrolled.

"**Welcome Naru-chan. Come sit next to me. This is my gift for your birthday. Remember when I told you about my old friends that your Bijuu armor will show when it's complete? This is the scroll to become their summoner. I don't guarantee that they will help you, they are a grumpy bunch.**"

Naruto looked at the scroll and did the same as with the toad scroll. Posing his bloodied fingers on it sealing the contract, he did the required hand signs and planted his palm on the ground. With a puff of smoke, he disappeared from the room.

He found himself in a luscious forest with a staircase leading to a temple. The sky was painted in shades of grey, black and deep purple with a few lightnings roaring high in the clouds. It was the famous calm before the storm. A storm that would never arrive.

He didn't have any other idea, so he climbed the stairs until he found a small temple that seemed unoccupied. Nearing the entrance, with a bolt of lightning a huge guardian lion blocked his path. He had to admit that the beast was majestic with its jade green mane and the same aura that Kurama had.

"**What are you doing here human?**" it roared with might and power that almost blew Naruto away.

"I have acquired the scroll needed to summon you. Yet when I tried to do so I was transported here."

"**Insolence, we gave our scroll to only one being eons ago. How could a human child have it?**" the lion was clearly losing its patience.

"I'm sorry if I have insulted you. A dear friend of mine gave it to me, her name's Kurama known as Kyuubi no Yoko."

The lion clearly relaxed hearing this name "**Kurama… I haven't heard that name in at least one hundred years. Come human child, you will explain this situation to Moshi-sama."**

Naruto followed the lion into the temple, complying to the power shown by the beast. Inside there was another lion, much larger than the first he has seen.

"**Doshi, why have you brought this human child here?**" it asked

"**He claims to know of Kurama.**" The now named Doshi said making Moshi look over Naruto.

"**Child what is your name?**"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, Moshi-sama." Naruto said with a deep bow trying not to anger the being in front of him.

"**Maelstrom, huh? Now tell me what do you know of Kurama? She hasn't visited in over a hundred years.**"

"It's a long story, at least for my kind Moshi-sama. It all began when the ninja villages were founded…" Naruto told the tale of Hashirama and Madara, the sealing of Kurama and other Bijuu in human vessels ending the line with himself"… right now Kurama is sealed inside of me because of some events that happened during my birth." To prove his point Naruto summoned Kurama from his stomach, making the woman appear in front of the beast.

"Long time no see, Moshi."

"**That's what happened to you Kurama? I shall free you at this instant from being subjected to your prison.**" Said Moshi, lifting his claw and channeling futon through it ready to kill Naruto. He would have succeed if Kurama has not came before Naruto.

"Stoooop! You will not harm him. Even if I am sealed inside him, Naruto is different. He showed me that the faith that my father taught us to have in humans wasn't for vain." She glared at Moshi who calmed down.

"**I will comply… for now. Tell me young Naruto, why do you seek our power?**"

"To tell the truth I'm not sure myself Moshi-sama. For a long time, I was seeking power just for the sake of getting stronger. That was until I met a few people who have seen me for myself and not for Kurama that was sealed inside of me. I would do anything to make sure they see another sunrise. I seek the power to make sure that those few people are alive."

"**Good answer, human child. We are the guardian lions; our power is meant to protect not to destroy everything in our wake. Sadly, we cannot help you as much as other summons. Our kind decided to stop fighting in wars that weren't ours. I cannot risk losing any of my clansmen, there are only thirteen of us left in this world. What I can offer you is training in our ways in order to protect the people that are so dear to you.**"

"I gladly accept your offer Moshi-sama." Naruto said with another bow

"**You've taught him good manners Kurama.**"

"Of course, I did." She said with a mock glare.

"**Begone for now. Come to this land in two days, don't worry about the toads we will resolve all the matters with them directly. We will speak then.**" Said Moshi and with a wave of his paw he sent the newcomers back to their land.

Naruto was sweating profusely; these beasts were as scary as Kurama if he was right.

"**Don't worry Naru-chan. They will warm up to you, give it some time. They are just very protective of their own.**" She said.

"After all, they are GUARDIAN lions." Joked Naruto

"**Yes, they are. What you need to know is that they highly regard hierarchy. They are considered almost deities that protect and guide people. What they offered you is a huge gift. They haven't trained anyone for over three thousand years.**"

"I will remember that. Thank you Kura-nee!" he said

Naruto punched his fist into his other hand. He was shown during the fight against Itachi how weak he was. He would never miss such an opportunity. Not now that he vowed to himself to protect his friends and most importantly Ino. Even if he knew that the girl didn't want nor needed to be protected.

_**End chapter 8**_

**AN: I hope you liked that one. I didn't write all of the fights during the preliminary round. They often feel like filler to me that just boosts the word count of a chapter. What I hope is that I don't make Naruto op or godlike too early. Thank you for reading and leave a review if want to.**


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